Switching Sides
by GroundZeroFirework
Summary: The World plunged in Chaos again as it spins another revolution of its cycle. One is forced to choose a side, one way or another. Deuce learns of it as she enrolls to the top school of Magic: Suzaku Peristylium. AU, Read and Review! Posting for my friend, Muddy Writer. :3
1. Chapter 1: The New Students

**AN: Okay, so I am posting this for my friend Muddy Writer. This is a collab fic between her and me. So we hope, from the bottom of our hearts, that you enjoy this story that we made up. Enjoy. **

* * *

**Switching Sides**

_Chapter 1_

**_"The New Students"_**

A military man shuffled around a darkened room adorned with exquisite mahogany boardroom table and elegant black chairs for meetings, thinking about his plan for the nth time.

Suddenly, he heard soft footsteps and stopped from his dizzying walk. High Commander Cid Aulstyne smiled viciously to himself; the time has come for his plan to be put into motion.

"You called for me, sir?" a voice of a young woman with a sable tresses came in, half of her face hidden in the shadows.

"Yes, yes. You leave tonight," replied Cid in a voice of authority.

Silence dropped like a cannon ball; everything stayed still and those present in the room, the two of them, seemed to be holding their breaths.

"You are ready to go, are you not," asked Cid with a raised eyebrow and he could feel the hesitation and anxiousness the young lass was emitting.

"Y-yes…" She answered like a whisper but then easily shook off all of her uncertainties and uneasiness away. "Yes," she answered with more conviction this time.

"Good," a full wicked smile now appeared on his thin lips.

* * *

"Ne~ where does Santa go after Christmas?" Cinque, a pretty orange-haired girl, asked innocently while cocking her head to the side. "Hm, doesn't he go hibernating?" Cater, a red-head, answered, "You know, considering he is big and fat like a bear!" And so, went on their discussion.

Far behind them, Trey was giving Sice another torturous lecture, making her cover her delicate ears in an attempt to block it out.

"Would somebody please shut him up?" The young woman with white hair in ponytail cried out. "No, no. It's far from over yet," Trey, the blond haired youth, said and so went on the torture of Sice.

Way on top of the rows of chairs on the right most side of the classroom, when you are facing it in Kurasame's point of view, the King of the class does not care about what was unfolding before him. Staring what was beyond the window seems to be interesting for him but if one is observant enough; he could be seen stealing glances on Sice's predicament, clearly amused.

The childhood friends, Rem and Machina, are talking about some secret issue that concerns about the war or _them_. Whatever it is, nobody knows for sure but Rem does shyly look away from Machina from time to time and Machina's awkward coughs could be heard.

Nine, with him improperly sitting on the top of his chair, looks pissed enough to eat someone alive. Apparently, his 'entertainment' a.k.a. the Class President, Queen, was nowhere yet to be found.

"Dammit!" was only one of the many curses he muttered under his breath.

Jack and Eight both have a matching pair of sly grins on their faces and mischievous glints in their eyes that could only mean one thing: they are thinking of hundreds, no, make that _millions_ of ways to flip the girls' skirts. Seven was eyeing them with a dangerous glare and was readying her trusty whip for any oncoming attacks.

Ace sighed; such is the normal scenario in Class Zero, who was supposed to be acting like the elite students they are but at times, they come out like big babies.

He was readjusting his glasses and was about to continue reading when he caught sight of Deuce, a pretty young woman with dark brown hair that glistens under the golden sun.

She was listening to Cater and Cinque's discussion about Santa's whereabouts after Christmas as if anyone cared but them.

Santa could go to hibernation as long as he wants yet, he has to make sure he delivers Ace's presents. Else, Ace is going to hang Santa by his big bowl of jelly. Nothing is sadder that seeing your stockings empty on Christmas it seems.

Deuce gave a big yawn under her hands; Ace frowned at this. She seems to be tiring herself a lot these past few days and he does not like it one bit. Wait, what?

Sensing someone's eyes training on her, Deuce turned to the general direction of Ace. Seeing him watching her, the Class Number Two gave the Ace one of her heart stopping smiles. Not even minding the effect it has on him. He reddened like a tomato. Reminded he still has to stare at her looks, uh, read his books, he awkwardly turned his attention away.

Ace inwardly sighed. He remembered Deuce was tagged by almost everyone as 'dense'. "And stubborn too," he added quietly to himself.

"But that's one of the things I love about her." He added to himself again. Wait, a minute, love? His eyes widened as soon as he realized what he just said. No, no, no, no! He _cannot_ fall for the new student. She just arrived here and he wants to make her feel welcomed, but not _that_kind of 'welcome'. Ace didn't want to come off as a creep. All of a sudden, he remembered the day Deuce arrived in Suzaku Peristylium.

* * *

_Ace and the rest of the members of Class Zero were waiting at an airship hangar for the new students' arrival. Recent enrollees were about to arrive at around eight in the evening._

_Ace merely stood there, quietly observing his classmates as they interact with each other. Nine was trying to get on Queen's nerves again and Queen is very close to snapping._

_Trey was began his long lecture on how the new students, especially the girls, might look like. It was also annoying the hell out of Sice, characterized by her face palm and covering of her ears. King watched Trey and Sice with his arms folded across his chest, looking nonchalant but was really entertained with the white haired girl's situation. __Any more and she might just bang her head on the wall._

"_Arghh! This is torture!" She yelled but as usual, Trey paid her no attention and continued on talking._

_Jack and Eight were creepily eyeing Seven, Cinque and Cater as if they were both planning on flipping their skirts anytime soon. Technically, they could not have even a midget size of peek of Seven's panties since she was wearing shorts underneath her skirts. Very practical huh? Whatever the case is, Seven had her whip ready to protect Cater and Cinque from Jack and Eight's filthy hands._

_Abruptly, they all heard the whirring of the engines of an airship. They all look up to the dark starless sky, only to see the airship, carrying the new students of Suzaku Peristylium, landing._

_Everyone lifted their arms to shield their faces from the dusts that the airship had generated._

_The doors opened and one by one, fresh students came pouring out. All of them were pretty much excited for having been attended a prestigious school that only a few had a privilege to do so._

_Ace paid them equally no heed, but the last three students that came out got his attention completely._

_Two of them were walking as a pair. The man was wearing Class Zero's standard uniform with an elegant cloak. He had dark hair, green eyes and is seemingly overprotective of his girl partner._

_The woman he was with also had dark locks but Ace couldn't exactly say what color her hair was. It was already dark and the grounds did not have a proper lighting. It also appears that she shared a close relationship with the boy. She, too, was in Class Zero's standard uniform. But the lone student, however, made Ace dropped his jaw to the ground._

_Her hair was of brown sable that fell just a few inches off her shoulders and is tied to a half-ponytail, sparkling green eyes and a body that any girl would kill for. She is also already wearing the academy's standard uniform, well specifically, Class Zero's standard uniform._

_Ace's heart started doing laps on his chest and kept on staring at her as if the girl would disappear the moment he take off his eyes on her._

_However, he was snapped out of his silent admiration when Professor Kurasame and Queen passed by him in order to talk to the new arrivals._

"_You must be the new students from Concordia. I'm Professor Kurasame and this is Queen, the class president of Class Zero." He introduced himself and Queen in a formal yet commanding tone._

_The girl looked slightly nervous but still held her beautiful smile. The boy and the other girl however, simply kept themselves calm and had no signs of nervousness. Kurasame approached the other girl first._

"_May I ask what your name is?" Kurasame held out his gloved hand to her._

"_R-Rem Tokimiya, sir." She replied nervously as she held on to her partner's hand. Kurasame nodded his head and approached the boy._

"_Machina Kunagiri, sir." He answered as if reading Kurasame's mind._

"_Are you related to Izana Kunagiri?" Kurasame asked him curiously._

"_My brother, sir," The boy, Machina, replied. Kurasame nodded once more and approached the last girl, whom Ace regarded as an angel that Etro sent for him to feast his eyes upon._

"_Hello, Kurasame-sensei, Queen, I'm Deuce," the petite girl made herself known while bowing slightly to both Kurasame and Queen. The professor gestured for her to stop bowing and she did._

"_Well, Deuce, Machina, Rem, these are the other members of Class Zero." Kurasame pointed where Class Zero was currently situated and as if on cue, Jack and Eight immediately walked up in front of the girls to introduce themselves. When they landed in front of Rem, however, Ace could notice that Machina looked really pissed at Jack and Eight, but Rem simply squeezed his hand reassuringly._

_Deuce and Rem shook each of their hands and laughed nervously at their goofy grins but before they could scare them any further, Seven and Cater immediately pulled Number Eleven and Number Eight away from them._

"_Please forgive Jack and Eight for their behavior." Queen said apologetically as she butted in and looked at the two sternly who only widened their grins. "Idiots," she muttered under her breath._

"_It's alright." Deuce replied softly and with a smile that almost made Ace faint. Rem nodded in agreement._

_Kurasame then ushered the three new students to meet their fellow classmates one by one, who lined up according to their class number. Rem, Machina and Deuce exchanged smiles and salutations with their comrades._

_When Deuce stopped in front of Ace, however, he was gob smacked until King nudged him in the ribs._

"_H-hi," He said with a sheepish smile, still captivated by her features._

_Deuce smiled back at him and that's when the effects started kicking in. Ace felt blood rose up to his cheeks and his heart__began__to race in his chest._

"_Hello, I'm Deuce." She held her hand out to him. "I'm Ace." He introduced himself and shook hands with her. But, oh my Etro! Her hands were the softest he ever held!_

"_Well, Deuce, Machina, Rem, I'm pretty sure you're tired. Why don't you let me show you to your rooms?" Queen suggested after their introduction and the three of them nodded. At once, they grabbed their duffel bags and followed Queen to the dorms. The other girls followed suit while the rest of the boys looked on at them in amazement._

"_So that's the new kids," Jack said approvingly, "Never thought the girls would look that hot though." He pointed out as he massaged the back of his neck._

_For the first time, Ace agreed with what Jack said. But instead of saying it, he simply nodded. Others did too._

"_Get back to the dorms. It's past your curfew." Kurasame ordered, breaking their enthrallment. Heck, even King was piqued with interest. The boys of Class Zero followed the orders and walked back to the dorms. As they headed back, Ace was thinking of Deuce while the others loudly discussed their arrival._

'_I got to get to know her.' He thought to himself._

* * *

But, that was weeks ago. So far, Ace's progress has been a big fat zero. As he was reminiscing, however, he didn't notice that he was staring at her yet again. Machina sat beside him, unnoticed

"See something you like?" Machine said coolly. Startled, Ace jumped out of his seat and fell on the floor. He liked Machina as a friend honestly but at times, he's very mysterious and won't seem to leave Rem alone.

"The hell? When did you get there?" Ace's eyebrows were knit together in slight irritation at Machina who only rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Well, while you were staring at little miss new student over there, I jumped at the chance to try and scare the shit of you. You're into her, aren't you?" Machina asked with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Wha? No…no…nah, I- I'm not into her." Ace stood up, took his seat and looked away from Machina. To be honest, he doesn't even know what he feels about her. One part tells him he has feelings for her and the other says they're better off as friends.

Machina scoffed at his response. "Yeah right. The more you say no, the more you're telling me yes." He replied smugly.

"Oh yeah? Says the guy who can't even ask his childhood friend out on a date." Ace mocked. Once again, Machina scoffed.

"You got that wrong, dude, I just did." Machina replied arrogantly as he sat on a chair with his hands behind his head. "Yup, sat right beside her and asked her for a date in town."

"Whatever." Ace rolled his eyes and right on cue, the bell rang. Frantically looking and noticing that Deuce has already left the classroom, Ace stood up instantly, grabbed his things and ran after her, not even minding to take his glasses off.

"Hey!" Ace called after her. Deuce turned around and saw Ace running towards her. "Oh, Ace. What do you need?" She asked, tilting her head in curiosity. Ace blushed. He always finds it cute when she does that.

"Uh…would-would you…uh-"stammered the Class Ace. _Damn, why is this so hard?_

This time, Deuce straightened her head again but the look of curiosity never left her face. "Yes…? What is it?" Deuce asked with that killer smile of hers. Despite the smile making his heart rate go insanely fast, Ace managed to calm himself down.

"Would," Ace sighed and straightened himself out. "Would you like to take a walk around the school with me after lunch? We have an hour and a half break anyway," He paused. "So…do you want to?" Truth to be told, Ace was _very_ nervous as if his life is at stake here. He hoped that she would say yes anyway.

"Um, it is not a date, right?" Deuce tilted her head to the side again. Ace swore if she keeps on doing that, he might faint in front of her.

"Uh," He nervously cleared his throat. Apparently, he just got friend zoned. "No, it is nothing like that. Just a friendly walk."

Scratch that; by saying 'friendly walk', he just _put himself_ in the friend zone.

"Okay. I'd love to," smiled Deuce as she answered.

"Great! Just meet me then at the courtyard." Ace could feel himself replying with a wide smile despite the fact he just got himself friend zoned; he just simply can't believe she said yes.

"I'll see you around then." Deuce turned to walk away.

As she did, Ace's stare bore into her being. But after a few feet away from him, Deuce turned around.

"By the way, you look cute with the glasses." She added prior to walking away completely. By then, the Class Number One was having a heart attack.

He can't imagine a girl as _hot_ as Deuce would say something like that to him. But, she did and if his heart rate was a human being, it would cause a tear in the time-space continuum; yes, it was going _that_ fast.

He turned around and saw Machina standing there, arms crossed and looking impressed but was nearly laughing. Now, it was Ace's turn to look smug.

"Beat that sucker," Ace said with pride. "I've asked a girl I barely know on a date faster than you asked Rem. Plus, she said I looked cute with the glasses."

"What do you mean date? She just friend zoned you."Machina replied offhandedly. Ace's smug look melted away straightaway after Machina mentioned that.

"Oh, shut up! Just because you got a date with Rem and I don't have a date with Deuce, doesn't mean you have to act like an ass," cried Ace grumpily as he walked away. Yet, when he was a few feet away, he turned to face Machina.

"But who's to say I won't try and snag her before someone else does?" He then continued walking to the cafeteria.

"Still, not bad. You actually got her to go somewhere with you. At least that's progress." Machina muttered before following Ace.


	2. Chapter 2: Getting to Know Each Other

Switching Sides

Chapter 2

"Getting to Know Each Other"

Cid Aulstyne sat on a high leather chair in his room that overlooks the city he rules. He brings his glass of wine near his nose, drinking in its scent before taking small sips. Cid smiled; it was a fine wine after all.

He sat there for a few moments, enjoying the silence that surrounds him in this ungodly hour of the night and his fine wine.

However, as quickly as his smile came, it vanished. He has still not received a phone call from his spy at Suzaku Peristylium for two weeks now.

Suddenly, his telephone rang. Cid almost jumped at the sound that was both new and loud in the silence but instead, he found himself smiling.

It could only be that one person, the one who he has been waiting for two weeks that could be calling him.

Pulling himself to stand up, he picked up the receiver.

"Hello," he said authoritatively.

"Good evening, sir," the young lady commenced on the other side, "Terribly sorry for reporting in late," She paused as if to ask permission to continue.

"Hm? Yes, go on." Cid replied.

"I've met the elite class, sir. Class Zero."

"Hm?" said Cid, urging her to continue.

"There will be fourteen of them." She said.

"That includes you?" Cid asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, sir."

"How do they look?"

"Well, first there's Ace, a young boy with a light blond hair and blue eyes; then Deuce, a young woman with a dark colored hair. Trey, a blond youth that wears a leather gloves. The gloves seem to be for archery, though. Cater, a flared red-head. Next is Cinque, a long braided orange haired girl. Sice, a white haired woman whose hair's tied into a ponytail. Seven, a short silver haired woman. Eight, a boy with brown hair with metal knuckles. It seems to me that he uses his hands in combat. Nine, a scarred man with spiky blond hair. Then, Jack, a coiffed blond boy. Queen, the Class President. She wears glasses too. King, a man with a blond mullet hair. Lastly, the childhood friends: Rem and Machina. Both have dark hair color. Machina is very protective of Rem as it appears."

Cid listened to the long report of his spy, committing to memory everything she had said. She has done well and nods in understanding at her description of herself. Everything needs to be in riddles if they want this operation to be a success. No one knows who could be listening to her as she converse with him. The connection is too open.

"They seemed to be assigned with a class number too, sir."

This information particularly caught Cid's interest. His eyes narrowed as he asked his spy a question. "What do you _exactly_mean?"

"For instance, Ace is the class number one. Deuce, number two and so on and so forth. The tenth number student though, is never present."

"Hm. Does this indicate their strength in battle?"

"Not necessarily, I think." The spy replied, too unsure.

"Do you also know what weapons they wield?" Cid asked once more.

"Not yet, sir. But apparently, Eight is a martial artist and Trey is an archer, observing from the equipment they use every day."

"Yes, yes, the metal on his knuckles and the leather gloves." He agreed and nodded even though the person he is talking to cannot see the action. He is satisfied with this information for now.

"Hm," He let out a sound as he discerned his next command, "Make sure you always stay subtle. You are to stay there and gather as much information about this Class Zero. Know how they fight and earn their trust for you to obtain the information needed. Do I make myself clear?" Cid ordered her like how a commander of an army would.

"Yes, sir." The woman replied.

"Next time, I want information on their weapons." He added at the last minute before the call would disconnect.

"And please, keep safe." Worry was clear in his voice as his father side kicked in. It is his beautiful adopted daughter he sent to this mission after all.

"Yes… sir." And then the line was cut. Cid placed the receiver back to its cradle.

"Excellent," his plans are going well. Cid looked out the horizon, hoping to have the information he wants and needed soon.

* * *

Ace walked in the cafeteria and ordered his lunch. He looked around and he saw that Deuce was nowhere to be found.

_Maybe she's eating lunch somewhere else._

Ace sat on a table with Eight, Nine, Jack and Machina. He observed some of his classmates around him. Sice and Seven were sitting side by side again. Sice was obviously relieved to have gotten away from Trey's big mouth.

Cater, Cinque and Rem were together as they ate. Cater and Cinque were either teasing or asking Rem about her ambiguous relationship with Machina which was probably both as Rem was turning red like a tomato.

King sat alone, observing his classmates as well. Queen sat with Trey, discussing about other plans for the class. Eight, Nine and Jack, meanwhile, were talking about girls _again_.

"Damn, I still can't get over about how hot Deuce is." Jack said in a perverted tone. When Ace heard that, his blood boiled. Thankfully, he was reading a small book he brought.

"Yeah, oh god, did you guys see her eyes? I have never seen eyes that beautiful." Eight added dreamily. Ace was then clenching his fist under the table.

"What do you think about her, Machina?" Jack asked the raven-haired boy beside Ace, but Machina paid him no attention. He was staring at the lilac haired girl a few tables away from them.

Nine followed his gaze and smiled mischievously. "Oi, Machina!"

The boys noticed Cater nudging Rem and nodding towards Machina's direction. Rem looked at him and both of them immediately looked away, faces burning red. Class Number Eight, Nine and Eleven patted Machina on the back in order to 'calm' him.

"Come on, Machina, admit it. You have the hots for her." Eight said teasingly.

"We're just friends." Machina denied as he drank his soda, his face still bright red.

"Yeah, sure, _friends_." Jack countered with a mischievous smile.

"Okay, Machina, fine. You won't make a move on her, I will. I mean Rem is just so hot." Nine said.

"Don't you dare, Nine," Machina growled at the Class flirt. "Or I will kill you." With that, they teased Machina at his protectiveness of Rem.

"So, you do have _the_ hots for her," exclaimed Jack in admiration as he slammed his fists on the table. Machina was riled up with their insistence.

"Okay, fine, I love her." Machina said in defeat. His head hung in the air. "But don't tell me that you don't have _the_ hots for Seven!" retorted Machina.

Jack gasped as his deepest secret was revealed and looked like a deer caught in headlights. Nine and Eight rolled in laughter at Jack and teased him.

"So that's why he always eyes her creepily!" Nine triumphantly declared. "Especially her skirts!"

Ace was just quietly eating his lunch as he listened to the three boys squabbling about each other's love lives. Fortunately, they left Deuce out of the conversation.

"Well, fine, I have a crush on her." Jack admitted in defeat. "But Eight likes Cater!" He blurted out, smiling wide like an idiot. Eight almost fell off his seat in surprise and the other three boys, except Ace, laughed at Eight's reaction.

"What the hell, man? That was supposed to be our secret!" Eight yelled at the katana wielder.

"Sorry, dude." Jack uttered in a false apologetic voice. Nine laughed harder and wiped the mirth forming around his eyes. Machina did the same thing too. Eight looked at Jack in annoyance.

"Oh, so you think this is funny eh, Nine? Don't tell me that you don't have _the_ hots for Queen." Eight argued; Jack's and Machina's eyes widened in surprise. Nine _falling_ for Queen? That's a damn miracle.

"That's where you got it wrong, Eight," Nine replied as if it was common knowledge. "I would never fall for that stick-up-the-ass Class Prez."

"Yeah, right. I can see it sometimes, Nine. Whenever we're in class, you're always staring at her. You could burn a hole in her head if that was possible. I mean you're doing goo goo eyes at her." Eight pointed out.

"No, I do not!" Nine countered, shaking his head in disagreement.

"Oh, really? Then, explain why you like annoying her. You always like to push her buttons until she'll chase you around the academy trying to stab you." Jack said evenly. Nine's eyes widened as if he suddenly realized something.

"See, no explanation there." Jack emphasized.

"Whatever." Nine rolled his eyes, he then though of changing the subject. "So, Machina, are you planning to ask Rem out anytime soon?"

"He already did." Ace stated casually and continued to drink his soda as if the boys around him weren't there at all.

Machina choked on his lunch as the three boys sat there, surprised. When Machina finally managed to swallow his food, he looked at Ace with a death glare. But Ace doesn't seem to notice because his attention was on his book. Hell, if looks could kill, Ace would already be ashes by now.

"Seriously, Machina? _You_ asked her out?" Jack asked, unable to believe what he just heard.

"Yes. Now, shut up." Machina ordered them. The guys, namely Jack Eight and Nine, whooped until Machina finally snapped.

"Oh yeah, you think _that's_funny? What about Ace?" Machina said while pointing his finger at the blond boy. "He asked Deuce out on a date and she friend zoned him." Jack, Eight and Nine pounded on their table and laughed so damn hard everybody in the cafeteria stared at them.

"_Oh yeah."_ The raven-haired boy thought.

Ace looked up from his book, surprised and angered that Machina told them that.

"Why would you tell them _that_?" Ace asked crossly.

"You tell my secret, I tell yours." Machina replied indifferently as he resumed eating.

"Don't worry, Ace, there are still lots of fishes in the sea." Jack said in between laughs.

"Well, she didn't exactly shoot me down. I asked her out for a walk, she asked if it's a date or not and when I said no, she agreed." Ace explained in one breath.

That stopped Jack, Eight, and Nine as they looked at him with faces that clearly said 'Are you a freaking idiot?'

"What now?" Ace asked, irritated.

"Are you insane?" Jack asked and the Class Ace gave him a "What the hell?" kind of look.

"Why would you say that it's not a date?" The Idiot of Class Zero followed.

"Well, I didn't want to scare her away!" Ace argued back.

"Still, you should've said that it was!" Eight replied. Ace rolled his eyes at them and checked his watch. There's only an hour of break time left and he still has to get to the courtyard.

"Whatever. I got to run, she's probably waiting for me" Ace said as he gathered his things and ran out the door faster than the Flash.

* * *

Deuce sat by the fountain in the courtyard, waiting for Ace. Checking her watch, she noticed there was still an hour of break left. Suddenly, she heard someone calling for her. She looked up and saw Ace running towards her.

"Hi." He greeted her as he stopped, panting.

"Hey." She said while smiling.

"Uh, you ready to go?" Ace asked her.

"Yeah," replied Deuce as she stood. The couple then walked side by side.

Ace took her to various parts of the school such as the chocobo ranches, the basketball court, the headmaster's office, and the football fields. It was a sort of a mini tour since Deuce never got to go everywhere ever since she arrived. Finally, they got to the last part of their walk.

"And this is the lacrosse fields." Ace pointed out. The lacrosse field was almost the size of the football field with two nets on each side and the equipment were placed on racks so that the students could play during their free time.

"Lacrosse, huh?" Deuce said, feeling a sense of nostalgia when she touched one of the lacrosse sticks. Her father used to teach her how to play lacrosse every day until she got better playing it.

"Um, Deuce," Ace began. Deuce looked at him and she tilted her head again in curiosity.

"What is it, Ace?" She asked straightening her head once more.

"Uh, about when you asked me if this was a date, I was…uh…planning it to be that way, but I sensed that you didn't want it to be that way so, I said that this wasn't." Ace said while blushing like crazy.

"Oh, uh, why would you want to ask me out on a date?" She asked curiously.

"Trust me, it's not like that. I…uh…just wanted to get to know you?" Ace replied with a nervous smile.

"Oh, um, what did you want to know about me?" She asked as she sat down on one of the benches.

"Just what you want to say about yourself," He answered.

"Um…well, I was born in Concordia on February 8, 826 and when I was about 6, my parents died in an accident. They died in a house fire." Deuce looked at the horizon, tears were almost forming. She was biting her lip as she recalled the events it seems. Ace regretted for having even suggesting the idea.

"I was the only survivor," Deuce continued, "A family friend took me in because my parents' last will and testament. It said that I would be left in his custody should they die."

"My guardian loved me like his own daughter and we lived in Concordia for the past 10 years."

Smile now forming on her sweet lips as she probably recalled happy moments.

"He sent me to the Concordian Peristylium when I was 8. He visits me at times to see how I was doing and recently, he agreed for me to be sent here. Hm, I guess that's all I can say about me." Deuce finished explaining and not even minding that Ace was holding on to her hands as she told her sad story.

"Thanks for… sharing that." Ace, who was beside her, felt a connection with the young girl. Silence surrounded them for a while. "I want to tell you something about myself as well," said Ace. Deuce looked up to him in curiosity.

"I was born here in July 10, 825," he started off. "And when I was 8, my parents were murdered in front of me." As he explained everything to her, the memories of that day came to his mind once again.

**AN: Okay, and that is chapter 2! Again, posting for my friend, Muddy Writer. I'm sure you guys can put 2 and 2 for the first part of this chapter. See ya!**


	3. Chapter 3: Stories of the Past

**AN: Alright, people! I have nothing else to say other than Thanks to those who reviewed on the previous chapter. So...THANKS. **

**And now, onto the replies as I was ordered by the story's owner!**

**To Fuyu Aki: First off, thanks for the review and secondly; it depends upon the reader's point of view on whether or not we changed Ace and Machina's personalities but I will tell you this; one time, I was at Tumblr and I saw that based on a player's analyzations of either the manga or the game (I don't really remember which one. LOL. Sorry. XD), he said that Machina and Ace's relationship weren't always the same from the game proper. He said that in one of the cycles; Machina and Ace were really good friends so just think that this story took place in that cycle. Again, thanks for reviewing and stay tuned for the next chapter. We look forward to the reviews. **

**To Ace-Deuce4ever: Thank you for your review. As for your question; AU means Alternate Universe. Please stay tuned for the next chapter. We look forward to your reviews.**

* * *

**Switching Sides**

**Chapter 3**

**"Stories of the Past"**

* * *

_8-year-old Ace was playing in the backyard of the family domicile. He was waiting for his father to come play with him when all of a sudden; he heard the front door being broken down. Worried and curious as to what was going on, Ace ran inside the house. However, he stopped midway and gasped at the sight in front of him._

_His mother and father lay on the ground with guns pointed at them. His parents saw him and looked at him with frantic eyes._

"_Ace, run! Run as fast and far as you can!" His father yelled at him. Ace looked at his parents, fear was evident in his eyes yet, he was frozen on where he was standing._

"_We love you, Ace," whispered his mother before the Milities soldiers shot them with hundreds of bullets. Their blood splattered all over the walls and made a pool on the floor. After this, the Milities soldiers pointed their guns on Ace._

"_Say good night, kid." One of them said but suddenly, he kneeled with the white of his eyes showing. He fell on the floor, lifeless. Someone killed him from behind. Then each of the soldiers fell lifeless one by one._

_As they fell down, Ace was surprised at the presence of his older cousin, Alex, who was only ten back then. Alex ran towards him, kneeled beside him and seized him by his shoulders._

"_Ace? Ace, look at me. Look at me." She ordered him as she shook him. Ace looked at her with a blank expression on his face but fear was evident in his eyes. All of a sudden, he__started__crying and he wrapped his arms around Alex's neck. Alex hugged him back tightly._

"_It's okay, buddy. It's going to be okay." Alex whispered soothingly in an effort to calm the boy. Alex held and supported Ace as they ran through the back door and into the woods._

"_It's okay, buddy. It's okay." Alex said. Finally, they got to the highway where Ace's aunt and uncle were waiting for them. They were already straddled on chocobos. Alex mounted on the third Chocobo with Ace and they all took off, traveling towards the Peristylium in the very dark night._

* * *

"I'm sorry." Deuce said and squeezed Ace's hand.

"Don't be," said Ace. "You should've seen me on my first months here. The headmaster said I was kinda difficult back then." He added with a light chuckle.

"Tell me about it." Deuce urged but she quickly retreated as she realized this. Ace, seeing her eagerness, told her everything about his memories of his first day. The memories of his first months came to his mind as well.

* * *

_The day after the attack, Ace woke up on a comfortable bed. He __started __to get scared because he didn't recognize where he was. Events of the previous night came flooding in his mind. His mom and dad were dead and worse, they were killed in front of him. He cried once again as he remembered._

_Ace was still crying when someone entered the room. He looked up and saw that it was Alex. She wasn't wearing the same clothes as she did last night: clothes that were stained with blood of his parents' killers._

_She __wore __a white shirt, jeans and boots when she came to his rescue but this time, she was wearing an unbuckled uniform coat, revealing a black shirt underneath, a blue cape, jeans, and sneakers._

"_Alex!" Ace shouted in glee as he jumped off the bed and into his cousin's arms. Alex held him tightly and directed him back to his bed._

"_Alex, where's mommy? Where's daddy?" Ace asked, desperately trying to convince himself that what he saw yesterday night was an illusion but deep in his heart he knew it wasn't._

"_Please, tell me they're not dead..." Ace whispered as he wept on her shoulder, hoping that Alex would say that his parents were only on vacation and that they would be back soon. That it was just a horrible prank to teach him a lesson after all the bad things he did recently. But then, Alex said something quite contrary._

"_I'm sorry, buddy. I'm so sorry," was the only reply that Alex could give. Ace cried even harder. Alex separated from him and held him by his shoulders._

"_Listen to me, buddy, from now on you'll be staying here in the Suzaku Peristylium. They're going to take good care of you here alright. I'll be here too but I won't get to see you so much but I promise that I will visit you every chance I get, 'kay?" Alex explained like a sister as she wiped Ace's tears away._

"_I need to you to be strong now," Alex added and Ace simply nodded yet, tears were forming again around his blue eyes. "Be strong…" She whispered on to his ears. "For your parents, for us… and most especially, for yourself…"_

* * *

_A month after the attack, Ace was officially enrolled in the Peristylium and was placed in Class Zero. He learned that a war broke out because of some man named Aid Culstyne? Was that him?_

_Anyway, whatever the man's name is, Ace held him responsible for his parents' death. He swore to himself to avenge their killing._

_Ace also didn't get to see much of Alex but she does visit him from time to time. Unbeknownst to him, the Headmaster and Alex were getting worried about him ever since Arecia reported that he completely refuses to make friends with the other children, no matter how much they encourage him._

_Another month later, however, Ace has reached the breaking point. Nine was teasing him again to provoke him into playing with them._

"_Hey, come on, kid. Why won't you play with us?" Nine asked while shoving him. But what was meant to be a playful shove accidentally turned into a real hard shove. Ace fell on the moist ground and got angry so he attacked Nine._

"_LEAVE ME ALONE!" Ace yelled at Nine as he punched the other boy. Queen, Cater, and Eight, who were present that time, tried to stop Ace but he kept throwing them off. Luckily, an adult arrived and stopped Ace before he could do any more damage._

"_ACE! STOP IT!" A voice yelled. Ace immediately stopped from punching Nine and turned around. Alex and Arecia were there. Alex looked angrily at Ace. She sighed deeply, silently fuming with anger as Ace ran up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He cried._

"_Please, forgive him. He still hasn't moved on from his parents' death. I'll talk to him." Alex said to Arecia and to the kids, all of who smiled gently at them, except Nine who was still clutching the parts that clearly hurt._

"_I understand. I'll go and talk to Nine," replied Arecia. Alex nodded and showed Ace the way as they headed for the tree on the opposite side of the playground. She made Ace sit down on the tree's roots while she sat in front of him._

"_Ace, what were you thinking? Why would you attack that boy when all he was trying to do was to get you to play with them?" Alex asked him in a stern voice as Ace's tears formed around his eyes._

"_He wouldn't stop bugging me." Ace reasoned in between sobs._

"_Ace, I know that, but that's not a reason to hit people!" Alex reprimanded him. "You turned nine just last month and I'm turning 11 in a few months time. Training is going to be harder for me so I need you to be responsible. I need you to take care of yourself. I can't always keep an eye on you because we're in different classes." Alex lectured him. Ace cried harder; he didn't want her to get mad at him._

_Alex sighed after her outburst and pulled him closer to her. "Look, I know you miss your mom and dad. I miss them too. But you also have to take care of yourself from now on. You may think I was the one who wanted all of this for you. But all of this was because of you parents, Ace. They have always wanted you to attend this school. So make them proud!" Alex finished 'scolding' and hugged Ace tightly again._

"_But I want to go with you." He begged._

"_You can't, buddy. I did promise I'd visit you right?" Alex said and Ace nodded._

"_I'll keep that promise." Alex said. She detached herself from Ace and wiped his tears with her long, soft fingers._

"_Now, go apologize to him alright and try to make friends with them, yeah?" Alex ordered him and they walked back to the group. Nine and Ace patched things up between them and he agreed to play tag with them. But before all of that, he ran to Alex first._

"_Are you going to be alright now?" Alex asked. Ace nodded and smiled cheerfully after which, he proceeded to hug her. Alex hugged him back and smiled at him._

"_I got to run okay, buddy. Be a good boy and don't hit people alright?" Alex told him and he nodded once again. Alex ruffled his light blond hair before she ran back to her classes._

* * *

"That's so nice of your cousin." Deuce said with a pretty smile. Upon seeing her smile, Ace's heart pulsated rapidly in his chest once again that he thought it will bust out.

"Yeah," He agreed. Suddenly, Deuce stood up and checked her watch again.

"Well, we still have at least thirty-five minutes of break left. Want to play lacrosse?" Deuce asked him with a smile on her face again. Ace knew that it was an offer he couldn't refuse.

"Sure, come on." He said and they walked towards the fields. After getting some rackets and a ball, they started the game.

Deuce was really good at it. She always managed to get past Ace and shoot the ball in her designated goal. When Ace finally managed to get the ball, Deuce suddenly ran faster than both the Flash and the Tasmanian devil combined!

She ran a few feet in front of him but Ace couldn't stop himself on time and… BAM! He crashed into her, knocking her into the ground and trapping her under him. Their faces were so close to each other and their lips were almost touching.

They were both staring at each other's glassy eyes. He was captivated by her emerald-green orbs and she was captivated by his sky blue eyes. Out of the blue, Deuce took Ace's glasses from his breast pocket and put them on his eyes.

"I did say you look cute with the glasses, didn't I?" She asked in an innocent voice and he simply nodded, forever fascinated by how beautiful she looks up close. He leaned down to press his lips to hers, hoping that she wouldn't pull away. Thankfully, she didn't. Instead she leaned up, trying to meet his lips as well. But, alas, someone had to ruin their 'perfect' moment.

"Hey, lovebirds," yelled someone. Both Ace and Deuce looked at the direction from where the voice came from and they saw everyone from Class Zero standing there. Eight, Nine, Jack and Machina were smiling devilishly at them. Cater, Cinque and Seven did a tactical face palm at the four boys' action, while Trey, Sice, Queen, Rem and King just stood there, looking amused.

But someone caught Ace's attention completely. Beside them, someone was holding a video cam. When the said person lowered the cam, Ace was horrified that it was Alex. She had a mischievous grin on her face.

Ace and Deuce immediately separated from each other and stood up, blushing like crazy. Deuce then ran back inside the academy while Cater, Cinque and Rem followed her. They had smiles on their faces.

"Okay guys, see you around! Talk to you later, Ace!" Alex said as she ran away with her video cam, however Ace was too upset to care, not at her but at Nine who apparently distracted him from what would've been the greatest moment of his life.

Crestfallen, Ace walked back to their class room where he spent the last ten minutes of the break time there, thinking about her.

* * *

A few minutes before she meet up with Ace, Deuce took seven identical tiny moogle key chains and seven identical chocobo key chains. She needs to situate these in her classmates' rooms as a sort of a token of thanks.

_But is it really? __A voice at the b__ack of her head said._

She first headed to the females' side of the common room. Deuce positioned the tiny moogle key chains on Cater's and Cinque's bed. She had accomplished this feat easily since the three of them share the same room.

Next, she went inside Sice and Seven's room. The Academy must have placed them together since both of them go along well,_ very well_. Then lastly, Deuce entered Queen and Rem's room. They share the same room probably because they are the 'mature' women of the class. They are the ones who could settle fights, watch out for Class Zero's general welfare and the like. They go pretty well too.

Deuce had placed the cute moogle key chains strategically that they might be admired when seen but is in the right place, enough to be left untouched. Or so Deuce thought if her female friends wouldn't be so persistent in taking it for themselves.

"Which is also a lot better," she said to herself. It would make things a lot easier for her. After her work was done in the women's quarters, she headed next for the boys.

Deuce had this first impression that it might be so cluttered but how she was wrong! It was very organized like the photos you could see on magazines. Heck, it even has that strong manly scent. It was most likely Nine's perfume that was like sprayed all over the place in his determination to prove his 'manliness'.

She smiled at her thoughts but then shook them off as she still had some work to do. First of course, she walked to Ace's room. His room was simple. It had red wallpaper, a king-sized bed, a study table, a few other things to aid him in schooling and a television.

His drawers were filled with a variety of picture frames. They contain a few pictures of him and his family. There was one when he was a baby with his parents. At the bottom of the frame it said:_ Mom, Dad and baby Ace._

There was another picture of him when he was about eight years old. Then, another photo of him when he was about seven with his parents, another couple that looked to be parents of a girl that was about nine with the same blonde hair as his. There was an engraving at the bottom of the frame. It said_ Ace, Mom, Dad, Uncle, Aunt, and Alex._

There were various other pictures but the one on his nightstand caught her eye. On the nightstand, on the right side of his bed, was of him and the same girl on the other picture, only she looked like she was eighteen.

The girl had her arm around his shoulder, smiling proudly and casually, at Ace. Ace had his arm around her shoulder too. They looked like they were certainly enjoying each other's company.

Ace also looked happier on this one than on the other pictures of him with their classmates. The frame also had an engraving on the bottom: Ace and Alex. The picture looked like it was just taken recently. As Deuce stare at the picture, she felt a slight tinge of jealousy. Ace looked like he was _very_ close to the girl and she does not like that. Sighing and shaking her head to get rid of the envious feeling, she took her eyes off the picture.

She pulled the blankets and lay on Ace's bed. Deuce felt his warmth and it felt definitely good. She allowed herself to close her eyes for a few moments when she remembered the chocobo key chains in her little hands. Pulling herself to sit on Ace's bed, Deuce placed a keychain on his bedside table.

After she was done with Ace's room, she entered Machina's room next. Machina's room also had red wallpaper, a king-sized bed, some elegant looking pieces of furniture and a television, but he had two bookshelves.

He also had pictures on his bedside tables. There were some pictures of him with his parents and his brother. There were some photos of him with Rem on the beach. It seemed to have been taken recently, maybe around the time before they arrived at the Peristylium. His arms were wrapped around her waist and he was kissing her cheek while Rem was smiling widely, seemingly enjoying the moment.

"And they say they just started dating," muttered Deuce as she placed the keychain on his nightstand.

When she was done placing a chocobo key chain on Machina's room, she entered Nine, Jack and Eight's room. She also placed the tokens on places that easily pick up conversations. Then last came in Trey and King's room.

As she closed the door of Trey's room, Deuce sighed to herself. Another mission went on successfully. Now, all she has to do is some listening. With that made up in her mind, she prepared herself for meeting Ace.


	4. Chapter 4: Training

**AN: Okay, I now give you chapter 4 of this story! Thank you to those who reviewed on the previous chapter! Yeah, that's all I can say. Now, onto the replies.**

**To Ace-Deuce4ever: Thank you for your review. We appreciate it very much and Thank you for your greeting. You were right; my birthday is on October 23.**

* * *

Switching Sides

Chapter 4

"Training"

Kurasame, Class Zero's taciturn commander, walked inside the big classroom. Behind him is a girl with long light pale blonde hair that reaches just above her lower back with four strands of braided hair: two on the side of her head and two at the back. She has light blue eyes with a cool gray center. She was wearing the standard uniform except it was unbuckled. Underneath it was a black shirt. She also wore black loose fit jeans, finger-less gloves and a black watch on her left wrist. Her sword was fastened on her slim waist.

Jack and Eight leaned in eagerly when they apparently saw the outline of her well toned slim waist. All they need is to hang out their tongues and viola! They are now dogs, lapping at the girl.

Queen cleared her throat and was about to castrate them when Kurasame stopped in front of his desk. He apparently had something in store for his beloved students.

"We shall have a special training today," he said to his students in a loud voice to get their attention. "With Class One's Alexandra." He beckoned Alexandra, the girl a few feet away from him, to come closer. As she went up next to her professor, Alex's face lit up with a sweet smile.

Ace's ears, however, perked up at the sound of his cousin's name and looked at her. "She _will_ be joining us?" He muttered under his breath and hung his head. "What's gotten into her?"

Alex must have heard him for her ears perked up and then, she looked at her cousin. "Problem, dear cousin?" She asked a little bit too sweet that it sent shivers down Ace's spine.

His head shot up at her immediately. Ace shook his head in disagreement after that. "N-No, Alex." Hearing Ace stutter in front of his cousin, Jack, Eight and Nine snickered at him and began calling him "cousin's boy".

A few feet away, Deuce stared on Ace's handsome face; she wondered what is running in his mind regarding this. The Class President, Queen, spoke up, "Who will be fighting against whom, sir?"

"Good question," said Kurasame, "It'll be Ace versus King," On cue, both boys eyed one another as if trying to measure each other's strengths.

"Deuce versus Cater,"

Deuce then straightened up in her seat and mentally prepared herself for the fight. Oh boy, Cater is going to be one hell of a difficult enemy because of her speed. Not to mention she does not need reloading her magical gun. Cater, on the other hand, said "This'll be exciting!" with her huge hyper smile.

"Cinque versus Seven," Kurasame continued. "Yay!" came in the mace wielder's happy voice. Seven, however, merely scoffed and said "This will be fun." Gone is the protective shell of Seven and was replaced by a humorless one.

"Sice versus Nine," which both said "Hell yeah!" at the same time. Sice and Nine looked at one another. "You are going down." Sice cockily said with her thumb down while Nine held up his index and middle finger together, brought it closer to his eyes then back to where Sice's direction was.

"Trey versus Eight," Kurasame continued again. Eight cracked his knuckles and brought his fist in battle stance. Trey went into a thoughtful mode and talked about different strategies with Cinque and Queen who were directly below him.

"Rem and Machina against one another," their teacher said without so much emotion. Everybody was silent and shocked at this turn of events.

Deuce heard Rem gasped beside her. "I wonder how they will handle it." Deuce thought.

"Both Queen and Jack go against Alexandra," Their commander finished speaking. Queen silently nodded and went into a thoughtful mode, same as Trey. But unlike him, she did not blabber to the whole class her strategies. Jack, on the contrary, boyishly whistled. "This _is_ going to be hot!" Alexandra smirked at Jack as she put her fists together.

"But there's gotta be some rules, right?" Deuce suddenly announced. Everyone turned their attention to her. Of course, there should be! It is not a training that aims to kill, right? Besides, who could bring themselves to?

"Hm, yes," agreed Kurasame. "This will not be an 'aim to kill' type of training. Whoever would be the first one to disarm their opponent wins. Also, the one who wins has additional points."

"But how could one disarm Eight!" Sice exclaimed. "He does not have a weapon!"

"Trey could knock him out," Cinque said solemnly "or…" she paused, "he could chop his fists off!" Cinque smiled, this time, like a psycho. All of them looked 'creeped' out and mortified, even Kurasame and Alexandra looked very disturbed.

"Hey! That's not funny!" Eight cried out like a baby; Cinque giggled.

"That's… that's really creepy Cinque." Cater cringed at her friend. She even visibly shook. Cinque chuckled but was interrupted.

"So then, shall we start?" Alexandra clapped her hands and beamed at the best class of Suzaku Peristylium.

* * *

The Class Ace and King stood on the training grounds with weapons ready: Ace, with his pack of cards and King, with his dual guns.

"You'll be fine, Ace, you'll be fine." He comforted himself. "You," he tried to reason, "you are quick and you have excellent evasion skills."

However, as much as he wanted to be optimistic, his scumbag brain always counters his happy, comforting and optimistic thoughts.

"Oh yeah, but King has incredible range! Not to mention he has a sniper mode." His brain taunted. "He could shot you a mile away!"

"But I could speed up! Besides, he needs to reload the ammos of his guns. I could use that as a perfect opportunity to attack!"

Silence answered him.

"Ha? Nothing to say?" He taunted his own brain. Only then Ace realized he was taunting his own brain like crazy. Had he realized it too late, he would not be ready in time for offensive attack since Kurasame already called the two of them to get ready. "Positions!" He heard Kurasame. "Ready, set, fight!"

King first sent a powered bullet in Ace's direction. Fortunately, he was able to dodge it. Ace then casted a fire spell.

King leaped sideways, but continued shooting, to avoid getting fried, then threw a bomb that contains a sweet smelling substance. Just in time, Ace threw a teleport card as far as he could manage.

Ace landed near the spectators, panting and was getting a little dizzy. He was getting double visions of his surroundings and it was harder to focus. Yet, he shrugged them off and kept on his offensive attack.

Their volley of spells and bullets continued on for some time. Ace's melee attack earned King two lashes on his right thigh while one of King's bullets hit Ace on his right shoulder. Both the Number One and Number Thirteen of Class Zero bled. Their crimson blood stained the training grounds.

Thinking that it is time to finish the training session before they lose more blood, Ace casted a stunning spell whilst King threw another bomb of sweet smelling substance that he was now sure was a sleeping bomb.

He barely dodged the incoming bomb; King was slower to dodge the spell. Thus, the spell effectively stunned him. As King weakened, he lost his grip on his guns. Ace was becoming weak too and was slowly falling in to the world of unconsciousness, due to the sleeping bomb, but not before he was declared winner.

* * *

Both students were taken to the infirmary for treatment of their injuries that were all minor.

"How are they?" Deuce asked Queen worriedly. Alex stepped in to the conversation to listen Queen's reply as well. Queen was the one who had seen to it that both Ace and King were taken care of in the infirmary. The others also discussed the various attacks displayed a little while ago and the techniques their classmates used.

"They are both fine," Queen addressed everyone. "Ace may have to stay in, though, until the effects of the sleeping bomb wear off." Each one in Class Zero sighed in relief.

"Now then, Deuce, Cater, on to the training grounds." Kurasame declared when Queen finished her announcement.

* * *

Deuce and Cater hurriedly went off and stood on the grounds. Deuce held on to her flute tighter than usual. Cater was already in her battle stance.

Before their commander could proclaim battle start, Deuce decided to sort out her thoughts, weighing her advantages and disadvantages. It appears that she has no choice but to attack offensively. This means, of course, she will be open to all sorts of assaults from Cater. Yet, as what she had observed, she has no choice.

However, this is just a practice— a training— right? Cater would never shoot to kill? After these not-so-helpful thoughts, Deuce sighed and readied herself.

But, no amount of assurance could she see her victory from this. She decided should just do her best.

"Positions!" That was Deuce's cue to place the mouthpiece of her flute on to her lips. "Ready, set, fight!"

Deuce quickly played out tunes on her flute and sent her projectiles to strike down Cater. In spite of this, Cater's bullets traveled faster than her projectiles that she was forced to stop playing her flute to dodge the incoming bullets. It was one of Cater's Attribute Bullets: bullets that fire different elements.

As Deuce plays a few tunes, Cater sends her a series of bullets. Deuce rolls over to avoid and Cater has to keep on moving too. At times, Deuce's magical projectiles would hit Cater and Cater could also hit Deuce. The fight was pretty even until Cater decided to close in the distance between her and Deuce for easy shoot.

But then, Deuce commenced playing her Dissonance Sonata. Realizing this just in time, Cater shot Deuce with a Stop Bullet. Before Deuce could even finish her attack and elude Cater's, she felt her body numb and immobile. She lost grip of her flute on top of that.

"Cater wins!" Deuce heard their commander announce. She then heard footsteps coming towards her. When the said person was a few feet away, Deuce heard her cast 'Dispel'. The feeling of Deuce's limbs returned almost instantly.

Although feeling a little bit weak still, Deuce managed to stand up. Cater promptly went to her side to assist her in walking while their remaining classmates meet up with the two of them.

"Are you alright?" Cater asked Deuce as they walk back. "Yes," She replied weakly, "Although I would very much like to rest." The two of them arrived and their classmates formed a circle.

"I'll carry you, then," The boys— Eight, Jack and Nine— suggested cheekily at once. Deuce warmly smiled at their kindness. Really naïve. Only Trey, Machina, Rem and Sice seemed to genuinely care for Deuce's welfare at the moment. "No!" Cater, Seven and Queen interjected at once. The Class President cleared her throat and said, "Eight is going in next against Trey."

"Aw," whined Eight. Cater eyed him that directly shut him up. "Sucks man," Jack spoke to Eight. "You could've have carried Deuce like a princess. Imagine the feeling of her thighs on your fingertips." Jack grinned like a maniac as he thought of this. "Ouch!"

It was Seven who struck Jack with a roll of paper. "Ace could have killed you should he have heard that," stated Alex in a matter-of-factly voice as she approached the gathered group.

"I'll accompany Deuce to the infirmary since I'll be the one last to fight." Queen offered.

"Ahem," they all turned around at the source of the voice. It was Kurasame. "Queen, hurry up and bring Deuce to the infirmary. Trey and Eight," he pointed to the training grounds. "Take your positions now."

* * *

Deuce felt another hand entwined in hers even before opening her eyes. When she did, she had been blinded for a moment with the bright white light. Adjusting her vision, her eyes flew to the figure beside her.

"Ace?" She whispered but that was enough to stir the said man from his slumber. "Oh, you've awaken huh?" Ace asked Deuce with tender concern that made her blush as he rubbed his sleepy eyes. Afterwards, he averted his gaze on to her cute and pretty face.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked once more as placed the back of his hand on her forehead, thinking she had gotten herself a fever.

Deuce, by this time, was turning into a lovely shade of pink. Ace chuckled at this. "She looks cute when she does that." He thought.

That was when Ace felt Deuce's fingertips on the bandages over his right shoulder. "Does it hurt?" She gazed worriedly at the wound before looking up to meet his light blue orbs.

He looked away; it was his turn to blush. "No, it does not." He heard her giggle adorably. "Oh, by the way, who won the other matches?" Deuce asked, then added, "And how?" Ace faced her.

"Between Trey and Eight, Trey won. He used Freeze Shot." He paused, thinking, then continued. "Cinque versus Seven, Cinque won using Earth Impulse. Even though Seven was fast in movement, Cinque countered it with strong attacks." Deuce nodded, assuring Ace she was keeping up. "Between Sice and Nine, Sice won."

"How?"

"Well, she used Black Hole. Nine may have been able to break her Poison Wall with his Throw Lance but with the use of her Black Hole, she was able to disarm him. He also earned a few cuts though."

"Oh."

"Rem won against Machina and Machina's lame excuse was that he was being a gentleman." He scoffed at this while she widened her smile.

"What about Alex's fights with Jack and Queen?" Deuce asked curiously. Ace grinned widely at her question and moved closer to Deuce in order to recount to her the story.

* * *

After Sice and Nine's fight, Kurasame called in for Alex and Jack. Alex immediately unsheathed her gladius and threw her sword's scabbard on the bench. Jack also unsheathed his katana but he left his scabbard tie to his waist.

"Nice sword, fitting for a nice girl." Jack flirted with her before the two of them walked to the training grounds.

"Thanks but I'm not one for flattery." Alex faced Jack. "Besides that's not the only one I have with me." She added cockily and hastily turned to walk off to the training grounds. Jack followed Alex closely, trying to flirt with her. But, she just continued walking without ever taking her eyes off the field.

Queen was taken aback at Alex's confidence as she stood by the bench where the two sword wielders left their unnecessary equipment. If Ace was modest and polite, Alex was cocky and a bit rude.

"Oh, care to show me?" Jack asked her as they finally arrived at the middle circle of the field.

"Well, you asked for it." Alex shrugged. She brought her sword hand to her watch. Alex pressed a button and everyone gasped to what happened to the watch. It expanded into a circular shield with the Suzaku emblem in the middle. Jack wolf whistled upon seeing Alex's shield.

"Positions!" Kurasame yelled. Jack dropped all of his nonsense and got into battle stance in a jiffy. Alex did too."Ready, set, fight!"

Jack was the first to attack Alex, but she simply blocked his katana with her shield and slashed at his shoulder. Jack yelped in pain and tried to attack her again. This time, however, Alex jumped over him.

Seeing it as the perfect moment to cast a spell, Jack shot a Firaga. Again, Alex blocked it with her shield. The audience's jaws dropped to the ground for they were both shocked and impressed at the same time. No normal shield could take that much heat and the holder would have dropped it off right away because the spell's intensity would burn the skin. But Alex didn't seem to be bothered by it as she landed. The shield didn't even look like it was affected at all.

"That's the best you can do? Now, it's my turn." Alex declared as she ran towards Jack.

Alexandra was a nimble fighter that Jack had to keep blocking her attacks and slashes to avoid further injuries. But the longer he keeps on blocking, the more he was getting worn out.

Alex managed again to land a slash at Jack's left arm. He winced in pain however a golden moment came at last. He saw an opening and attacked her, but she managed to block the attack with her shield. Once more, Alex jumped high in the air and aimed for his legs when she threw her shield.

The shield returned to her like a boomerang. Alex caught it but threw it again. This time, the shield hit his hand. Jack's katana went up in the air and his gaze followed his weapon only to see it in the hands of Alex. She got hold of it as she was just landing.

Alex also got caught of her shield, tapped it and it reverted back into a watch. She then hurriedly wore the watch just as Kurasame clapped at their performance. The others did so as well, except for Queen, who was scared shitless by now but had enough self-control to stop herself from shaking.

"Well done, Alexandra." Kurasame praised her. Alex approached the commander with deep breaths in each step. Suddenly, her watch started beeping. She started to take sharp intakes of breath and looked like she was trying to stay conscious. "Professor, May I be excused for a while?"

Kurasame nodded in approval. Instantly, Alex dropped Jack's katana and ran out of sight. Seven also took Jack away to be treated in the infirmary. A few minutes later, both Seven and Alex came back together. Kurasame then ordered Queen to get in the arena.

"Positions!" Kurasame called. Alex tapped her watch and it reverted into a shield once again. She got in her battle stance. Queen summoned her saber and got into her battle stance as well.

"Ready, set, fight!" Kurasame yelled. Queen dashed and attacked Alex but the older girl parried her attack. Queen broke their exchange; however Alex was the one who attacked Queen this time.

Queen was able to deflect every single one of Alexandra's attack. The Prez shot Ace's cousin, as she did a high jump, with a blizzaga spell but Alex was able to dodge it and the ice spell hit a wall instead.

Queen scanned the area for Alex since she disappeared from her vision. She didn't notice that the said girl was behind her. Alex sneaked up on Queen and covered her mouth from behind. Ace's blonde cousin made Queen lose grip of her sword by holding on to her hand _very_ tightly.

"Give up?" She asked coolly. She removed her hand from Queen's mouth.

"Like I have a choice," Queen answered and hung her head in defeat. Alex shrugged and let go of her completely. Once again, Kurasame and the other students applauded.

"Very good, Alexandra," Kurasame said.

"Thank you, sir." She replied and gave Kurasame a small bow as she tapped her shield return to watch mode.

"You may leave now." Kurasame said. Alex took her things, nodded and left.

* * *

"I see. Um, you have gotten to watch _all_ of this?" Deuce asked after Ace's narration.

"No, Alex told me."

"Oh, okay." She replied in a cute voice. Ace smiled at her and patted her hair, making her blush once again.

"Say, you…uh, want to go on a date with me?" Ace asked nervously. His hands sweat up immediately and a bead of salty water threatened to fall across his face. Deuce looked at him with a surprised look on her face.

"A-A date?" She asked, whisper like and he nodded. She smiled widely at him afterwards, making him blush.

"I'd like that." She replied. He can't believe it; she said yes. Well, it was a start. His heart was beating fast in his chest again.

"That's great. Um…I'll take you to the chocobo ranch later. Meet me at the courtyard at two-thirty. I have to go. I have to do something first." Ace said with a smile. Deuce nodded and when he was about to walk out of the infirmary, he collided with the wall. She laughed at his clumsiness which she tried to suppress. He immediately got up, gave her an embarrassed and awkward smile before running towards his cousin's room.


	5. Chapter 5: Chocobo Ranch Date

**AN: Hello, everybody! Sorry for updating later than usual. Anyways, it's Tuesday here and I know I usually update at Mondays but I'm sorry I forgot. Please Forgive me. Anyways, please enjoy this chapter. We worked so hard on this.**

* * *

Switching Sides

Chapter 5

Chocobo Ranch date

* * *

Ace reached his cousin's room on the female dormitories of Class One. He immediately started banging on the door.

"What? What? What!" He heard Alex asked before she opened the door. She was stood there and she wore, again, her favorite black shirt and jeans.

"I need your help." Ace said as he took deep breaths from all the running he did.

"For what?" She asked casually.

"Just something," He replied. Alex opened the door wider and he walked in.

"Now, what do you need?" Alex asked again as she closed the door. Ace sat on the nearest chair he found.

"I asked Deuce out on a date and I don't know what I'm going to do and I want to tell her that I love her." He explained in one breath and he blushed when he finished. His cousin looked at him with a look that says "Are you freaking kidding me?"

"You asked her out on a date and you don't know what you're going to do?" Alex said with a raised high-arched brow.

"Yes."

"Okay, what did I tell you on what you should do when you're taking a girl out on the first date?" Alex asked as she crossed her arms. Ace sighed.

"Be a gentleman, _always_."

"There see, you remember it. Just apply that and it'll go nicely. And relax, just be calm and tell her how you feel."

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Alex." Ace said as he stood and came to her to hug her. Alex chuckled and hugged him back.

"Now, fly, Romeo and go meet your Juliet." Alex said one last time as Ace chuckled and walked out of the room.

* * *

Ace ran to the courtyard where Deuce was waiting for him by the fountain. When he saw her, he came to her immediately.

"Hey." He greeted. She beamed at him, making his heart go fast.

"Hey." She greeted back.

"You ready to go?" He asked her. She nodded and he offered her his hand. She took it gratefully and he pulled her up.

"So, where to?" She asked him curiously, tilting her head once more. He almost fainted on the spot because of how lovely she looked.

"Chocobo ranch," He replied. Deuce smiled at Ace and they walked to the ranch, hand in hand.

* * *

When they got to the chocobo ranch, they thought that they were the only two people there. Unfortunately, their other classmates namely Machina, Rem, Nine and Queen were also riding on chocobos around. They all looked Ace and Deuce's way and waved at them. The newly arrived couple waved back at them and proceeded to the stables.

"Well, want to go riding?" Ace asked her. She looked a little hesitant in doing so that made Ace worry. He doesn't want his first date go bad.

"What's wrong?" He asked her and he was sure his eyebrows knit together.

"I'm kinda scared of chocobos." She replied as she looked around, not wanting to meet his sky blue eyes. Ace smiled at her.

"They're not really _that_ bad. Here let me help you get this one to trust you." He offered. The two of them then went in front of the chocobo. The large flightless yellow bird stood straight and eyed them warily. Ace stood behind Deuce and took her hand, inching it closer and closer to the chocobo. He could see and feel Deuce's hand shaking.

"It's okay, they're harmless." Ace assured her. The chocobo lowered its head, as if it wanted her to touch it. Eventually, Deuce was able to pat the chocobo and the bird snuggled its head in her hand. It looked like it was enjoying the warmth of her hands. Deuce smiled widely at the chocobo.

"There, see. It likes you." Ace said with a smile at the scene before him. Then he opened the gate and the chocobo walked out and kneeled beside Deuce.

"It wants you to ride it." Ace said and he helped Deuce ride her chocobo. After that, he got on his own chocobo. The twosome rode out of the stables and into the fields where Machina and Rem were chasing each other on their chocobos. Nine, on the other hand, was trying to shove Queen out of her chocobo. Ace and Deuce rode towards the others to greet them.

"Hey guys." Ace said.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Rem asked as she grinned at the two but that's when the jackass, Nine, decided to intervene.

"You guys are here on a date aren't you?" He teased. Ace could feel his ears getting hot and Deuce felt blood rushing to her face. They both looked away. Queen and Rem giggled at them.

"Ooh, Ace finally got some guts." Machina teased and Rem smacked him in the shoulder for that remark.

"Don't be mean, Machina." She reprimanded him.

"Thanks, Rem." Ace said gratefully as he faced lilac haired girl although he could still feel his ears hot.

"Who wants to race?" Nine dared them all. Machina and Ace were so obviously going to accept since they want to prove to everyone else who the hell is the best chocobo jockey.

"I DO!" They both yelled simultaneously. Rem and Queen started shaking their heads in disapproval. Class Numbers One, Nine and Machina are always like this. The three girls rode off in a different direction to watch the race, deciding it was the best thing to do.

When the girls have settled on a nice spot, they watched the three boys going up the hill to start the race. They waited for a few more seconds before the race began.

Machina seemed to be winning as he was in lead. Rem started cheering for him. Queen cheered for Nine as well while Deuce cheered for Ace. It took Machina won the race in a matter of more than a few minutes with Nine in the second place and Ace in the last place.

"Hey, we're going to ride around." Machina said as he drew near.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Rem yelled because Machina suddenly started chasing her again. She and her chocobo ran for dear life with Machina in pursuit. Nine started annoying Queen once again that she chased him around. Ace and Deuce, on the other hand, were just riding around, taking pleasure of the surroundings. Out of the blue, an idea came to Ace's mind.

"Come on, I want to show you something." He said and they rode up another hill. Finally, they got to the top of the hill. Deuce was amazed at the scenery. She could see the entire fields as well as the sunset.

Ace dismounted from his chocobo and it sat down to take a rest. Ace helped Deuce off her own chocobo and her chocobo sat down beside Ace's chocobo as well.

"Ace, it's so beautiful here." Deuce said with a grateful smile. Ace looked at her and he can't help but smile as well; under the orange sunlight, she looked like an angel descending from the heavens, sent by Etro for him to love.

"I know. That's why I took you here. I knew you'd like it." He replied. Ace sat down with his chocobo and he leaned into it. Deuce sat beside him.

"You were right. I do like this." She replied. A breeze of cold air passed them and Deuce rubbed her arms to warm herself. Ace scooted closer to her and wrapped his arms around her slender figure, hoping that she won't push him away.

To Ace's relief, she didn't. She leaned in closer too. They stayed that way until the sun had completely disappeared in the night sky. When it became dark, they head back to meet their classmates. Machina, Rem, Nine and Queen, however, were long gone. Ace then remembered he was supposed to tell Deuce how he truly felt for her.

All of a sudden, another idea came to Ace's mind. When they headed back into the stables and put the chocobos back into their respective stables, Ace took Deuce's hand. Together, they walked back inside the Peristylium. But before going their separate ways, Ace stopped and looked at her.

"You want to do this again sometime? Maybe this Friday?" He asked. It was only a Tuesday so he has a lot of time to prepare for that.

"Uh…sure. I had a great time." Deuce said. Ace's heart did a marathon again. He just landed himself a second date.

"That's great! I'll tell you where we'll go at either tomorrow or this Thursday. Let's get back." He said and he offered her his hand. Deuce took it gratefully and they walked back inside the Peristylium.

* * *

**AN: Okay, and that's that. Please review and if you guys have a problem, PM me or Muddy Writer or leave a review but just remember this; We Regret Nothing. XD**


	6. Chapter 6: Spending time together

**AN: I forgot to update again yesterday, Gomen! Now, we give you Chapter 6. Please read and review. Muddy Writer and I worked so hard on this.**

* * *

Switching Sides

Chapter 6

Spending time together

* * *

The next day after Ace asked Deuce on a date to the lacrosse fields, she was wandering around the school for who knows why. She probably had reached every nook of Suzaku Peristylium except for a single dark room.

The room had these big double doors and was lighted by torches on each side. Just the sight of it was enough to send chills run along someone else's spine.

But Deuce wanted to _really_ find out what was inside, being the stubborn girl she is. Well, once she made up a decision, she stuck with it even if it would mean danger or trouble. She actually brings meaning to the phrase "stubborn as a mule".

Walking up to the door, she grasped the handles and pulled it open. It creaked so loud that Deuce was half-expecting school officials to come, stop and reprimand her for going into some kind of restricted section. To her relief, none came so she continued in on inside.

Now, it was positively giving her the creeps. Her summer uniform wasn't helping her to calm down either.

It was a library with the biggest and tallest shelves she had ever seen. There were probably thousands and thousands of books that were a bookworm's dream come true. It would make Ace, Queen and Trey's dream come true. But heck, spider webs were here and there, decorating every shelf and corner.

The books also looked as if no one has ever touched them in a very long while, maybe in a thousand years? They were all covered in thick clumps of dusts.

"Achooooo!" came in Deuce's soft sneeze. After she had wiped her nose, she treaded down the aisle. Why did she come here in the first place? She had no idea either.

Maybe she was searching for something important or helpful but nothing seemed to be like it. Deuce examined the shelves but she passed by them, looking for nothing in particular. She sighed.

"I must be crazy," she whispered to herself and then, her ears perked up to a sound.

"Who on earth would be here?" She said while wide-eyed with shock.

Deuce continued her journey until she arrived at the end of the library. Still, the sound was there. It was more of a whispering? She raised an eyebrow at this.

The whispers came from the right side of the room. Part of Deuce wanted to investigate (being the stubborn person she is) and part of her does not want to know at all. In this enormous creepy place, what might be hiding in the shadows?

"Oh, puh-lease! I'm not going to be chickened out by some whispers," said her brain.

"What if some monsters are really hiding there? Or worse, what if there are ghosts?" Deuce asked her own brain.

"Ooooh, which will be great then! You'll be a true witness!" Her scumbag brain replied.

"That's not even funny!"

Realizing she was crazy for even 'talking' to her brain, Deuce shook it all off. She was going to find out what the whispers are all about.

Deuce mustered every single ounce of courage she had left and took her the first step towards her right. She was beginning to come closer to the whispers that were slowly beginning to get clearer and louder.

Behind her, she was feeling as if darkness will slowly come and eat her alive that she almost broke into a sprint.

A few feet, however, from the source of the sound, she heard "It's a good thing I have my library card. Why? Because I'm totally checking you out!"

Totally cheesy! But Deuce, being the stubborn _and _naïve girl she is, did not have even the faintest ideas of what the lines were all about. Okay, she might have an idea, yet she was not that sure.

"For a moment I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Now I see that I am very much alive, and heaven has been brought to me," went on the person that Deuce was now sure of being a man.

"Just what is he doing?" Deuce wondered as she took several steps closer.

"I've been wondering. Do your lips taste as good as they look?" Deuce heard the man. "No, no. That one will certainly earn me a slap."

She giggled at the man's thoughts. Her eyes widened as she prayed to the Fal'cies above that that sound was not heard. "Oh, Heaven's missing an Angel—"

Apparently, they were not on her side as the man, or rather boy, came out to see the source of the adorable giggle.

"Wha— oh."

"Ace?" Deuce exclaimed and she could see tints of red forming on the boy's cheeks. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh, nothing? You didn't hear anything, right?" He asked. He would be _very_ embarrassed if Deuce _did_ actually hear him muttering those pick-up lines from a book Nine gave him. Ace was praying hard as well to the gods above him, yet they are not with him.

"I… did? It was 'It's a good thing I have my library card. Why? Because I'm totally checking you out!' then there was 'For a moment I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Now I see that I am very much alive, and heaven has been brought to me' and lastly, 'I've been wondering, do your lips taste as good as they look?'. Why d'you ask?"

Ace face palmed. "Trust her to remember all of that." He mumbled.

"Hey," He said as he held Deuce on her shoulders. He was suddenly nervous of his reputation as Class Number One. "Don't ever, _ever _mention this to Eight or Jack or Machina. 'Kay?"

Deuce hurriedly nodded; Ace sighed in relief. "What were you doing then?" He heard her asked innocently.

"Uh, practicing?"

"For what?"

"Hey," An idea came to him. "Care to help me?"

"Sure!" She eagerly answered. "Hmm?"

"What?"

"What exactly do I do?"

"Just listen to me and respond whenever you feel like it."

"Oh, 'kay."

"So, how about if we sit down here?" Ace pointed on the ground. Deuce conceded and proceeded to sit down on the floor.

When they were comfortable with their positions, Ace went on as far as holding Deuce's hands. Naturally, a girl would flinch at the contact but Deuce, being Deuce, did not.

"I'll start now, okay?"

"Okay."

That was when their eyes locked on to one another that Ace did not even have to check his copy and just said what he felt at the moment. Albeit, a little bit cheesy.

"You know, beautiful is my favorite color." He said while staring on to her eyes and while holding on to her hands.

"But, that's not a color." Deuce said while she smiled and tried to stop herself from giggling.

"It's the color of your eyes." Ace declared sincerely.

Deuce giggled at what he said. Honestly, when she found out that it was Ace, she was hoping that they were for her. Ever since they nearly kissed in the lacrosse fields, she started to realize that she had a little crush on him.

"For a moment, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven." He said with a flirty smirk on his face which made Deuce blush. Ace smiled at her and continued.

"But now I see that I am very much alive and heaven has been brought to me." He said. Deuce giggled once again and the bell rang, signaling their curfew. They both stood up and ran to the dorms. Before heading up to his own room, Ace escorted Deuce to her room.

"I had a really fun time tonight. So, who's the lucky girl?" Deuce asked with a smile. Ace smiled at her but face palmed mentally. "Why can't she see that she is the lucky girl?"

"I'll tell you someday." He replied. Deuce simply smiled at him but she held a sad look in her eyes which Ace noticed. Not wanting to see her sad, Ace immediately thought of a way to make her smile again.

"Your laughs are like sweet bells ringing and your smile is radiant as the sun that not even the darkness can kill."

Deuce smiled happily once more.

"Did you think of that or did you take that from your book?" She asked him with her radiant smile.

"No, that was just me." He said then he leaned down a bit but his eyes never left hers.

"Farewell, dear maiden. Good Night and I shall see you tomorrow." He said as he kissed her hand. Deuce, by then, was blushing insanely. He let go of her hand and with one last smile, he walked away.

Deuce entered her room and leaned on her door, smiling to herself but unfortunately, she didn't notice that Cinque and Cater were still awake.

"Why are you smiling?" Cater asked, worried for her friend's sanity.

"Nothing," She said simply and walked into the bathroom to wash up.

* * *

Nine was walking around the library, looking for his 'entertainment' or to normal people: Queen.

Oh yes, he loved pushing her buttons. It shows her dominance and her authority. To him, however, it makes the day go faster. Plus, she's more beautiful when she's mad. Flirting with other girls was just another way to push her buttons. He loved to see how jealous she would look every time.

To others, he just loved annoying her, but he recently realized that he love her. He was snapped out of his musings when he saw her by the library's entrance. It seemed like she was already leaving. Not wasting anytime, he chased after her and caught up to her in the hallways. He caught her wrist and made her face him.

"What do you want Nine?" She asked him, exasperated.

"Go out with me." He said, straight to the point and nothing else. Queen's eyes widened as if she couldn't believe what he just said.

"What? Nine, I don't have time for your jokes." Queen said as she readjusted her frames. Nine could see her hands shaking.

"It's not a joke. Just…go out with me. If you don't like it the first time, I won't bother you again." He pleaded her. Realizing that he sounded sincere, Queen decided to give him a chance.

She sighed. "Alright, I'll go out with you."

Queen then felt her heart doing laps in her chest. A few days ago, she, too, realized that she was in love with him. Yet, she didn't want to feel the heartbreak if he decides to leave her for another girl or if he dies during the war.

"Great! Meet me at the park at around seven-thirty." He said and he left her standing there. Immediately, she ran towards her room which she shares with Rem. She entered it and saw Rem sitting on her bed, reading a book. Rem looked up and noticed the troubled look on the class president's face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She asked Queen, her brows weaved together in worry.

"Nine asked me out on a date." Queen said as she came up to Rem.

Rem looked dumbfounded at the news. "Seriously? Nine asked you out?" She said ecstatically. Queen only nodded.

"Then, what's wrong? Didn't you tell me you had feelings for him?" Rem said. Sighing, Queen sat down on her bed.

"I do but…"Queen trailed off and thought for a while.

"But?"

"What if this is all a joke?" Her voice had a hint of uncertainty of Nine's intentions.

Sighing, Rem set the book down. "Maybe it is a joke, maybe it isn't. But I think it is worth to give it a shot." Queen nodded and smiled at her friend. "Thanks."

Rem hugged her and Queen returned the hug. "You'll be fine, Queen." Rem said and when they separated, she stood up.

"I got to run. Machina asked me on a date yesterday. Wish me luck too." She said, beaming at the Prez. Queen smiled back and said, "Good luck."

After that, Rem left the room. Checking her watch, Queen realized that she had an hour and a half left before meeting Nine. She immediately got some clothes from her wardrobe. It consisted of blue jeans, a white blouse, in which she folded its long sleeves half-way to give off a casual vibe, and boots. Then she took a shower and got dressed. She looked at herself in the mirror. Queen looked pleased enough then tut at her reflection.

She walked over her closet again and took a badass looking leather jacket. She thought it might be chilly tonight so it's best to take this jacket.

"Wish me luck." She muttered to herself and walked out of the room.

Nine stood at the Peristylium's park, holding a red rose. In the middle of the park was a piano, where he was waiting. Though, why would anyone put a piano in the middle of a park? No one knew. He ran a hand through his hair and loosened his tie. He was now wearing a white dress shirt, jeans, a tie and sneakers.

And a few feet away from him was a picnic that he set up for her, complete with champagnes and the only lighting nearby were four tiki torches. Suddenly, he saw her running up to him. Under the moonlight, he can see her wearing a white blouse, jeans, boots, and a black leather jacket. She was so beautiful.

She stopped in front of him and inhaled deeply. She was catching her breath. "Hey, sorry I'm late."

"Not at all," he said. Nine tucked the rose in her ear and took her hand to guide her to the picnic blanket. They talked as they ate about the good times they had as kids.

"Honestly, I thought you wouldn't show up." He said as he took a sip of his champagne. Queen chuckled then sighed. "I thought that you were going to stand me up."

It was his turn to chuckle. "Of course not," he replied after which he stood up and extended his hand to her. "Come on. I want to show you something."

She took his hand and he pulled her up. They walked to the piano and sat down side by side. Nine put his hands on the keys and started playing a song. Queen, as soon as she heard it, realized that the song was "River Flows in You".

As a child, it was one of her favorite pieces. Her mother often played it to her before she went to bed. She missed those moments with her mother however after the war broke out, her parents decided it's best to send her to the Peristylium. Not only to train her how to fight, but for her own safety as well.

"How… did you know how to play this?" Queen asked him curiously, still wide-eyed. Nine looked at her and gave her his trademark smirk.

"My mother taught me this before she and father sent me here." Nine replied as he continued on playing the sweet melody.

"It was my favorite as a child." She said. Nine looked at her and smiled. "Really? It was my favorite as well."

Queen rested her head on his shoulder and listened to the song's melody. She enjoyed and savored the moment. She wished it could just be the two of them. No wars, no problems, just them.

Eventually, Nine finished the song and he looked at Queen, who looked at him in return. He was captivated by her beautiful purple eyes. Suddenly, he did what no man would ever dare. He leaned in and kissed her tenderly, hoping that she wouldn't slap him across his face and leave.

Thankfully, Queen didn't but kissed him back. Her arms moved and wrapped around his neck and he grabbed her by her waist to pull her closer. His tongue traced her lips, begging for entrance and she granted it. Their tongues clashed and the moment was perfect but they had to separate to catch their breaths. He cupped her cheek and kissed her forehead tenderly.

"I love you." He whispered. She cupped his cheek as well and kissed his neck. "I love you too." She replied and he kissed her again.

"Be my girlfriend?"

But then, Queen separated from him, stood up and smirked teasingly. "If you catch me, I'm yours."

She then took off, running as fast as she could. Chuckling, Nine ran after and thanks to his speed, he managed to catch up with her. He caught her in his arms and they both fell down. He trapped her under him and smiled at her. She smiled widely at him as well. Ever since Queen was separated from her parents, she never felt this happy.

"So…I guess you're mine now?" Nine asked her cheekily.

"Just shut up and kiss me." She countered. Nine smiled and did what she commanded him.

And under the full moon's light, they kissed each other passionately.

* * *

After giving Queen some advice on her date with Nine, Rem immediately headed out of their room to meet up with Machina. He told her to meet him up by the chocobo stables and so she headed there.

She saw him there, wearing jeans, a long sleeved shirt, sneakers and he was tending to Chichiri, Izana's chocobo. Izana and the other troops were back from the front lines and he took Chichiri to the chocobo ranch. Rem approached Machina from behind and covered his eyes.

"Guess who?" She asked him, trying so hard not to laugh out loud.

"Rem," He answered. Rem chuckled and took her hands off his eyes. He turned around and greeted her with a smile on his face.

"Ready to go?" He asked her and she nodded. Then, Machina let Chichiri out of his stable. The chocobo kneeled down beside them.

Machina helped Rem get on Chichiri and he went behind her. Then, they rode out of the stables. "I thought we were going to town tonight?" Machina chuckled and shook his head. "I have a better idea."

After a few minutes of riding, they arrived at the beach. It was so beautiful; the full moon looked like it was closer than usual. They got off the chocobo and walked around, barefooted, with Chichiri.

After picking a decent spot, Machina and Rem sat down while Chichiri kneeled behind them and nudged them both, as if wanting them to lean into him and they did so. Machina wrapped his arms around Rem and she rested her head in his chest and together, watched the moon. They've been dating for a few months now, but they rarely get to have dates like these.

Last night, he just came clean to the boys that they were dating for months because they were calling him 'slow' while she, on the other hand, came clean to the girls as well because they kept on pressuring her. Pushing these events to the back of his mind, he leaned down and kissed her forehead. He cupped her cheek and she looked at him.

"I love you so much." He said. She smiled at him and kissed him softly in his lips. "I love you too." She replied. Smiling, he pressed his lips to hers and kissed her passionately. She kissed him back and ran her fingers on his hair. They separated for a breath of air. Then, he went down and kissed her neck. He separated from her and pulled her closer to him, making her sit on his lap.

"I won't let anything bad happen to you." He whispered, his hot breath tickled Rem. She snuggled closer to him and rested her head on the crook of his neck.

"I know." She replied and planted a kiss on his bare neck. He held her closer to him. They watched the moon in silence and in each other's arms.

"_The most eloquent silence; that of two mouths melting in a kiss."_


	7. Chapter 7: Drinking Shots

**AN: Aaaahhhh! Gomen! I am so sorry for updating this late but we lost the internet and I'm piggy backing on my brother's wifi hotspot. Thanks to those who reviewed on the previous chapter.**

* * *

Switching Sides

Chapter VII

"Drinking Shots"

Nine was super hyper than usual. It could either be because he drank too much soda or it could be because he got himself a new girlfriend. Oh wow, look at what sugar rush plus happiness could do to you and it was not even lunch time yet.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" He called the attention of his other classmates as he strode towards Kurasame's desk. Their commander was nowhere to be found. He is probably stuck in some faculty meeting. This gives Class Zero _a lot_ of time to kill for.

King, Jack and Ace were dozing off again. Deuce, Cater and Cinque were engaged in a heart-to-heart talk. Seven and Sice were listening to Trey's long and painful blabber though their eyes are twitching in annoyance.

Seven was polite enough not to do anything aside from patient listening while Sice could not stop herself but shout "Just when will you shut up! Go bother Cinque or something!" But then again, Trey continued on his sermon as Sice slump her head on her desk.

Eight was frolicking around Kurasame's desk, searching for not existent things. He just likes to wander around, doing nothing in particular. Good thing that the Tonberry was not around or Eight might have found himself at blade point. And he'll most likely be yelling like a little sissy girl by now if Tonberry was around.

Machina and Rem, well, they are talking in whispers and seemed to be in their own world. Lastly, Queen a.k.a. Nine's living entertainment and 'unannounced' girlfriend, was studying and reading a book. She was a few chairs away from the sleeping Ace. Seeing his classmates are not paying attention to him, Nine pounded his fists on the table _very_ hard.

Class Number Two, Four and Five gave out loud and pitchy screams, due to being taken by surprise, which in turn woke up the sleeping boys. Queen, Seven, Sice and Eight turned to Nine's direction and glared at him. Trey even stopped talking for once. Rem screamed and Machina gripped his beating heart. Darn, all of them almost had a heart attack from it!

"Hey! That wasn't even funny!" Eight yelled. "What are you doing, Nine?" Seven's glare did not leave Nine's face. "We almost had a heart attack here, you bitch!" Sice yelled at him but Nine paid her no heed. "Sice!" He heard Queen as well. He almost smiled but continued on to what he is about to say.

"Now, I see that I have your attention," Nine said, then cleared his throat. "A thought came to me this morning."

"You? Thinking?" Trey asked with his eyebrow raised in doubt. "Please, Trey," Queen interrupted the chatterbox of the class. "Let Nine finish."

"What happened to you?" Sice spoke with obvious shock and with eyes widening. "You always think Nine's thoughts are senseless." Her eyes squint slyly. "Hm, is something going on between you two?" The girls snickered hearing this.

Class Number Twelve reddened at Sice's remark. "N-no! I just thought we should respect whoever's talking in front." Sice shrugged at the Class President's reaction and decided to play blind. "Yeah sure, respect. Whatever." She said as she rolled her eyes.

The lads who were asleep still found it hard to focus on anything. "Please, continue Nine," urged Deuce the scarred man in a soft voice.

Nine silently thanked Queen and Deuce for being such gentle angels to him. He then carried on what he had to say. "Since we lack a show of some manliness around here, I decided to invite the men to a drinking game."

The girls noticeable reactions were eye rolling. This declaration, however, pumped some adrenaline into the veins of the men of Class Zero (except Trey). Heck, even the heavy-eyed Jack, King and Ace looked like someone just dumped ice-cold water on them upon hearing this.

"So, are you game?"

Sice sighed. "Men."

"But what about hangover? Not to mention we will be sanctioned if ever we are caught!" Trey reasoned with Nine about this drinking game and unrelentingly gave him some more reasons.

Nine, deciding it was best to ignore Trey, said, "Hey, if you guys aren't wusses then prove it...through a drinking game!"

"Now we're talking!" Jack wolf whistled. "So, when does it start?" Ace asked. Deuce gasped at his question and sent an unnoticed look that said "Are you serious?" Queen also shot Nine a stern one.

"Tonight."

The elite students from Class Zero gathered around the living room of their common room. Their common room was divided into two wings: the girls take the right wing and the boys take the left one.

Not really interested in some drinking game, Sice, Seven, Cinque and Cater entered a hot discussion of who likes who while painting their nails in some of the cutest nail art designs they could find. These girls were huddled in a little circle just a few feet away from where the drinking game was happening.

"Ne~ Sice, do you really think something's going on between Nine and Queen?" Class Number Five asked the white haired woman as she ran a clear gloss across the nail of her thumb.

"I don't really know, Cinque. It could be nothing or," Sice replied as she examined a black nail polish. "It could mean something."

Cater, who was done painting her nails, was polishing her magic gun. "I smell something fishy between Ace and Deuce as well. Just think if they would be a couple, their smoosh would be DAce!" Seven chuckled at the flared haired girl. "You made that up?"

"Uh-huh," said Cater in agreement. She was flashing everyone a big, bright smile. It was like a disease. It spreads and affects whoever sees it.

"Hm, I wonder where the rest are though." Number Seven said in a low tone. Cater continued on with her polishing while Cinque painted her nails.

"You mean Rem, Queen and Deuce?" Number Six stated without taking her eyes off her nail polish. "Yeah right. Queen's probably berating Nine. Rem, she's rooting for Machina. I don't know with Deuce though. But I just can't stand the stinking tequila!"

At that moment, Trey crashed their little circle and accidentally groped Cinque's butt. Seven, Sice and Cater summoned their weapons and pointed it to the man who just violated their friend.

"TREY! What the hell are you doing?" Sice asked him angrily while her Scythe of Doom still pointing at him dangerously. She had the intent of cutting of his head. Yet, Trey looked _really_ intoxicated. "Great, that means he had way too much of the tequila." Seven addressed Sice and Cater as she lowered her whip.

"What's it to you?" He snapped at Sice. They were all taken aback at his sudden change of attitude. Usually, Trey was that annoying chatterbox they know but now, it looked like he was releasing his pent up anger. That is, if he had any. "He is just probably… _too_ drunk." Number Four told the other girls. Number Five's gaze left her friends' faces and unto the man before her.

"Did you join them?" Cinque asked Trey worriedly. Both of her hands flew to his shoulders and clutched him tight. "No, but Nine made me drink a bit. It's actually good though." He suddenly laughed that made Cater, Sice and Seven go wide-eyed. "I had…like…five of them." Trey slurred.

"You better go to bed." Cinque said as she tried to help Trey up but then, Trey did something unbelievable. He pushed Cinque to the wall and crushed her lips in a kiss.

Everyone was quiet for a tiny moment and after that, the boys started cheering. Number Four, Six and Seven turned to their other classmates to see how long have they been watching. Of course, none held the answer. Trey separated from Cinque who was blushing like crazy.

"You really should go to bed." Cinque said, still embarrassed about what happened but helped Trey anyway to the boys' dormitory. The boys were still cheering; most likely happy that Trey finally got some game.

"Well, let's continue the game!" Nine yelled. And so the game did.

First up were Eight and Jack. Apparently, Eight challenged Jack and Jack, being the macho jackass that he is, accepted it. The two idiots obviously wanted to impress Cater and Seven, but unfortunately for them, they weren't watching. After at least fifteen shots, Jack was knocked out and Eight won.

After them were Nine and King. Nine challenged the Class King and King, not the one to back down from any challenge, accepted immediately. However, twenty-five shots later, none of them seemed to be letting up.

"Tell you what, Nine, if I win, I'll kiss one of the girls here." King declared drunkenly as Nine took another shot. "Oh, really? Who?"

King chugged down another shot and seemed to eye Queen when he actually was supposed to be eyeing Sice. But King, drunk, did not looked twice and looked back at Nine.

"I'll kiss Queen if I win." He pointed the Prez. Nine, who was drunk as hell, got pissed and started punching King. Machina and Ace, who were the only boys that were sober by then, separated them and positioned them back in their respective seats.

"Don't worry. He'll probably be down by the next few shots." Ace assured the scarred boy. Class Number Nine nodded and swigged another shot. King drank at least five more before going down. The boys cheered for Nine. He stood up, only to stagger towards Queen then gave her a passionate kiss. The boys cheered even more (some wolf whistled) and the girls who were doing their nails immediately stopped to watch the scene.

"So, that's why she let him finish earlier." Sice said with a sly smirk on her face. "I was right! There _is_ something going on between them." She added. Queen separated from Nine and blushed ridiculously. Nine smirked at her and turned to face their classmates.

"I am dating our Class Prez and yes, she agreed to be my girlfriend." He announced while holding on to Queen, who blushed even harder, for support. "Is this true?" Ace asked, shaking his head in disbelief. Queen nodded in silent confirmation and before anyone else could say anything further, Nine intervened. "There's your answer." He hiccupped. "Let the game continue!"

The boys started cheering once again because it was Machina and Ace's turn. It turns out that Machina challenged Ace. The Class Ace accepted to prove how "manly" he really is and it's an effort to impress Deuce too. Both men wanted to impress their respective ladies

"That's it. I'm ending this." Queen said as Ace and Machina gulped down their thirtieth tequila shot. They, Ace and Machina, surpassed the ones who were before them that Queen was getting worried. She pulled Rem and Deuce, who was also getting worried for Ace's sake, away from the crowd.

"You guys are coming with me." She said as she dragged them to the hallways.

"To where?" Deuce asked.

"The Class One dorms," Queen replied as they walked towards the direction of Class One's dorms.

When the three of them got to the Class One dorms, no one was around as far as they could see. Queen decided that the three of them will simply sneak inside the room of Ace's cousin, Alex. After walking a few steps they finally got to the room with a name plaque that says 'Alex'. The door was slightly ajar and they can easily see what the person inside is doing.

"Let's take a peek first." Deuce mischievously suggested and so, they did. They looked through the door and saw Alex holding a syringe with blue liquid in it. Alex was wearing her black punk shirt, black jeans, and sneakers.

Alex pointed the syringe at her chest and Queen decided to suddenly tap on the door. Unfortunately, she startled Alex, causing her to accidentally stab herself way too deep. "Son of a bitch!" Alex yelled. It was obvious that she was in pain. After injecting it in her heart, Alex immediately threw the syringe away and headed for the door. She opened it fully and saw the three of them standing there.

"How much did you guys see?" Alex asked.

"Umm…" Deuce began but Queen cut her off.

"What was that all about?" She asked.

"I have a weak heart. Does that answer your question? Now, what do you want?" Alex asked impatiently, her arms folded across her chest and there was a white cloth that was starting to get stained with blood taped to her shirt.

"Uh, yeah. Well, you're cousin just participated in a shot game, so, you might want to stop him now. Like, right _now_." Queen answered.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. He's doing what?" Alex said.

"Ace is playing shots right now. Tequila shots against Machina." Rem replied. Alex sighed and face palmed.

"Oh, for Etro's sake, where are they?" Alex asked as she went out of her room, closing the door behind her.

"In the dorms," Deuce answered and the quartet headed back to the dorms of Class Zero.

Back in Class Zero's dorms, Machina and Ace were still drinking.

"What the hell is going on here?" Alex asked. She is trying to suppress her anger. The others sobered up a bit except for Machina and Ace who were still caught up in their drinking game.

"We're drinking tequila, Alex. Join us." Nine said, still intoxicated. It appears he was still drinking even if he has already won.

"How much have they drank?" Alex asked the other boys around. Jack and Eight perked at the sound of her voice and smiled goofily at her. Machina drank another shot and so did Ace.

"This is their thirty-fifth shot." Jack answered. He is almost drooling from all the staring he was doing.

"THIRTY-FIVE SHOTS? THIRTY-FIVE SHOTS AND THEY'RE STILL SITTING?" Alex shook her head in disbelief.

"Yeah, yeah, we know it's hard to believe. Now can you stop them?" Queen asked her, waving her hand dismissively.

"Well, they've drank way too much by now. There's nothing much that I could do. If we try to stop them, they'll probably ignore us and continue. They're both are probably drunk as fuck right now too. We can only wait until one of them drops." Alex explained. Then, she pulled the video camera from her pocket and started recording the whole thing.

"You got that right, cuz!" Ace hollered. Upon hearing this, Alex took Eight's glass of tequila and swigged it down as she took the video. "Here ya go." Alex said as she handed Eight the glass again. "Are you even sure that's good for your weak heart?" Deuce asked her with concern. "Meh," She waved her hand as if to drop the whole issue. "I'll probably die during this war so…why not?"

Queen shook her head silently and watched the scene. Finally after another ten shots, Machina started throwing up in the bucket that Nine placed beside him, signaling his defeat. The boys started cheering, Rem went to Machina's aid and Alex pulled Ace out of his seat.

"You're so going to bed now, young man." Alex spoke in a stern sisterly voice that she always used whenever Ace got in trouble. Her cousin pulled away from her grip and staggered to where Deuce was standing. Deuce looked at him and smiled.

"Oh, hey, Ace, how are you-"she began but before she could finish her sentence, Ace seized her by her shoulders and pressed his lips to hers. Everyone gasped and Alex's face looked like she was happy and pissed off at the same time.

"Un-fucking-believable," she said and turned the camera off but not before saving the video. Ace separated from Deuce, who couldn't comprehend what just happened. Although, she was blushing like crazy.

"That was great," Ace whispered before fully losing his consciousness. Oh, the joys of being drunk.

"Oh, for Etro's sake!" Alex yelled and helped Ace up. Deuce helped her as well and they both took Ace to his bedroom. After taking Ace's cape, coat, and shoes off, Alex kissed him in his forehead and whispered good night and they both walked out of his room. Once they got out of his room, Alex slumped against the wall and rubbed her temples.

"I'm so sorry for what he just did." Alex said, bowing slightly to Deuce but the brunette shook her head.

"It's fine." Deuce replied. Alex looked at her, wide-eyed in confusion and disbelief.

"No, it's not. I'm really sorry. I mean, no girl wants her first kiss to be stolen, especially by a drunk guy."

"No, really, it is fine. Um…if I was going to have my first kiss, I actually wanted it to be your cousin." Deuce said but she immediately retreated and clamped her hands over her mouth upon realizing what she just said.

"R-Really?" Alex asked. Deuce nodded in confirmation. The older girl smiled gently and patted Deuce's head.

"Well, it can't be helped. He's sixteen, turning seventeen, hormones are raging all over." Alex said casually. She was apparently taking it hard; the cousin she treated like a brother has apparently found the person he'll love.

"Plus, he's a big boy, a big boy who's going to get one hell of a scolding tomorrow." Alex said while shaking her head, chuckling. Deuce noticed the 'far-away' look in her eyes, obviously remembering the times they spent together. Suddenly, Alex shook her head and snapped out of her musings.

"Oh, I should get back to my dorm. I'm the Class Prez, so I should set an example. Good Night." Alex said then walked away. Deuce watched her retreating figure walk out of the dorm and she headed back to her own room as well.

The next morning, Ace woke up in his bedroom with a really bad headache. He was feeling nauseous as well. So, he immediately ran to his bathroom and started throwing up the tequila he ingested last night. A few minutes later, he walked out of the bathroom and saw Alex leaning on a wall.

"Had fun?" Alex asked with a sarcastic smile on her face.

"Oh, I'm not in the mood, Alex." He whined as he lay down on his bed once again.

"Oh, you might not be in the mood but I am." She replied with a barely contained rage. Finally, Ace sat up on his bed and looked at her.

"Okay, what do you want me to say?'I'm sorry, Alex. It won't happen again?'" He asked with a hard look on his face.

"That's exactly what I want you to say! That it won't happen again! At least, not until you're 18 or out of school!"

"Look, why are you always so obsessed with my life? Why are you trying to control me? I'm _sixteen_. I can take care of myself!" Ace argued back. Okay, that might have been a bit of the alcohol talking but deep inside and no matter how much he appreciated it, he's kind of sick and tired of Alex trying to control him.

"I'm not trying to control you, Ace! I'm looking out for you! Trying to stop you from doing something that can screw your life _so_ bad!"

Ace simply stayed silent, not wanting to say anything else. "You became my responsibility when you were born, Ace! And so, it's my obligation to take care of you."

"If you want to see what you did last night, just hook up my camera to your TV." Alex said, exasperated, walked out and slammed the door behind her. Ace hooked up the camera to the television just as he was told. He watched everything that happened last night, but what he can't get over is the part where he kissed Deuce.

"Oh, dear Etro, I stole her first kiss." He muttered. He then turned the TV off and walked out of his room to look for her. Ace walked downstairs and saw Deuce sitting on the couch, reading a book.

"Deuce!" He called out. She turned around and stood up to face him.

"Oh, hey Ace, how are you feeling?" She asked him. Her concern warmed the insides of Ace.

"I'm fine. Listen about what I did last night, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"but before he could finish, Deuce wrapped an arm around his neck and pressed her lips gently to his. When they separated, Ace blushed furiously.

"I'm sorry." Deuce said and tried to pull away from him but Ace held her hand tightly. "No, wait. It's alright." He said.

"So, what happens now?" He asked her.

"Umm…I'd like us to stay friends for a while. Then, let's see what happens from there." She replied with a shy smile. Ace was heartbroken at what she just said, apparently, he was friend zoned again. But at least, he had a bit of hope.

"Great. Umm…great," He said, albeit less-heartedly. Deuce smiled sadly at him and turned away from him.

"Well…see you around." She said and walked out of the dorms as Ace watched her disappear from his sight. But he suddenly remembered about their date that day. Ace gave chase immediately and eventually, he was able to catch up to her.

"Deuce! Wait, are we still on for our date?" He asked her. Deuce nodded immediately.

"Of course! I did promise you one, didn't I?" She said. Ace smiled widely, happy that he was still going on a date with her.

"Great. Uh…meet me at the lacrosse field later at around 7:30. I have to tell you something." Ace said. Deuce nodded immediately and she walked away again. Ace ran to the Class One dorms, needing more advice from Alex and maybe to apologize to her for what he said earlier.

When Ace arrived at the Class One dorms and got to Alex's room, he knocked on the door.

"It's open!" She yelled out. When Ace entered, there was Alex, sitting by her desk with a Chemistry set. The Bunsen burner was on fire and a test tube and a Florence flask was filled with some blue liquid and another was a flask was filled with some red liquid. Alex's bed was filled with a bunch of medical books that she borrowed from Arecia and the library.

"Experimenting on your heart serum again?" Ace questioned. To be honest, he doesn't like it whenever Alex does this. She could either blow up her room, the entire school or when she tries it on herself because she could get herself killed.

"Yeah. What do you want?" Alex asked him as she drank some coffee.

"Advice. I asked Deuce out on another date." He replied.

"My advice the other day is not going to change, Ace. Anything else?" She asked as she mixed her serum and the red liquid that just finished heating up, turning the serum into a purple colored liquid. Then, she put it in a syringe.

"Yeah, I just wanted to apologize to you for what happened this morning. I'm sorry." Ace said. Alex stabbed herself with the new serum she just concocted but she felt weak all of a sudden and she felt an aching pain in her chest.

"Alex? You okay?" He asked. He immediately grabbed another one of her serums and injected it into her heart. After a while, Alex sat up again and she looked at Ace with a fond and sisterly look on her face.

"It's alright, buddy." Alex said. "And my advice isn't going to change." She added. Ace smiled and nodded.

"Go on, get out of here." Alex told him and Ace left immediately. He went to the library to kill some time until it was 6:00. When he was done preparing, he immediately headed for the lacrosse fields, waiting for Deuce to arrive.

Knowing full well that her cousin was out on a date, Alexandra a.k.a. Alex entered Ace's room. As she did, Alex was met by a blast of warm air and Ace's perfume scent. She scoffed.

"Did he just dump his entire perfume bottle?" She said to herself, smiling. The room was so organized as if a girl was using it. Heck, between Alex and Ace, he would surely win the prize for being so orderly. Alex squint her eyes around the room and muttered something.

"Not sure if he just likes to be tidy or he just turned into a girl. Hell, I'll probably hang myself if it was the latter," Not that she has anything on being gay. Anyone could be gay for all she cares, just _not_ her cousin.

Walking across the dark tiled floor, she reached Ace's king sized bed. Alex kneeled beside the bed, feeling the soft blanket between her fingertips that Ace was currently using.

Memories flooded her mind as she remembered the moments they shared. They were all very important to her. To Alex, Ace was her little brother. A brother she never did get to have. With that thought always in her mind, she will _never_ allow anything bad to happen to him.

If anything should occur, she will never forgive herself. She felt obligated to anyway since she was the older one.

Standing up, she lied on his soft bed. It made a _plop_ sound as she sank in. Different questions rushed to her mind again. Questions like '_What could they be doing now?', 'Did he made a move on her about now?', 'Did he remember to be a gentleman always?'_and more stuff like that but of course, she has no way of knowing.

But, there is only one thing Alex could be sure about. The date probably took place somewhere close to his heart. It could also be taken as a way of showing who Ace truly was.

"Chocobo ranch," Alex breathed and then turned to the right side of the bed where she could see the key chain Deuce gave Ace three days ago.

Reaching it from its place with her pretty fingers, Alex brought it up closer to her face. She studied it with such scrutiny but in the end, she found the key chain to be a pretty cute imitation of the big, yellow birds.

However, someone slammed their door _really_ hard outside that Alexandra was startled at the sound, causing her to drop the chocobo key chain.

The chain landed with a hollow sound as if one dropped a microphone. Then, it released a sharp static sound that made Alex cover her ears. She raised her eyebrows at this then placed them back together in suspicion.

"Microphone?" she whispered, afraid someone might overhear her even though no one could ever really.

Alex pulled herself to sit up on Ace's bed. Leaning to side where she dropped the key chain, she picked it up.

She even went as far as pulling it very close to her light blue orbs. She inspected the chocobo keychain inch by inch but after a few minutes, it was fruitless. Then, an idea struck her. She brought up the tiny token near her right ear and her eyes widened.

It was not that big of a discovery but it was enough. She heard the 'static' sound being emitted by the small keepsake.

"Just what was that," asked Alex disbelievingly as she stared at the object.

Sensing it is wise to approach Class Zero's Commander, Kurasame, she headed for the door. Before turning the knob, she gave the room one last scan. Alex swore she is going to find out what is inside this thing. Is it just some prank or some deeper matter?

With that thought in mind, she opened the door and headed out to find the half-masked commander.

* * *

**AN: Okay, this is Chapter 7. Please read and review. It would be very much appreciated. :D**


	8. Chapter 8: The Discovery

**AN: Arrrghh! I am so sorry! I keep forgetting to update and I am so so so sorry. Anyways, Merry Christmas everyone! Thanks to those who reviewed before.**

* * *

Switching Sides

Chapter VIII

"The Discovery"

In a darkened room in Rubrum's magic school, a lone machine was slowly recording conversations. As the tape rotated and recorded everything from its little arms, the key chains, the conversations were playing in softened tones that were only meant for the ears of a sole person.

The student sighed as she replayed what the machine had recently picked up. Most were useless though.

"_Ne~ Do you think Trey would like this bikini on me?" _A familiar voice of someone she knew came in. The undercover agent was pretty sure the voice belonged to a girl with a long braided orange hair.

"_Uwah! I didn't know you fancy him!" _A voice of someone hyper, she was certain that it was Cater, answered Cinque.

"_N-no! I-I j-just w-want t-to l-look g-good!_

"_Uh-uh! You're blushing too!"_

"_Am not!"_

"_Are too!"_

The spy let out a deep sigh and changed the conversation to another one. Voices of males came in. The spy knew that it was obviously Jack, Eight and Nine.

"_You guys have to help me!" _started Jack.

"_What do you need now, Jack? If you're in trouble with Kurasame again, we're not taking the fall for you."_ Eight snapped at him.

"_It's not that! Will you hear me out for a while?" _Jack half yelled, half requested. The spy heard silence for a while before Nine spoke up.

"_What do you need?" _He asked.

"_Okay, I am going crazy here. I need you to help me admit to this girl that I like." _He rambled. Silence once again.

"_Is it Seven?" _asked Nine.

"_Yes! It's Seven. Who else would it be?" _Jack snapped.

"_Okay, Okay. Geez, just calm yourself and tell her how you feel. If you're lucky, she'll return your feelings. If you aren't, she'll probably strangle you with her whip." _Eight explained.

"_You sound like you did it before."_ Nine said.

"_Nope, but I'm planning on doing it now…to Cater." _Eight confessed.

"_No ducking way." _Nine said, clearly not believing what Eight just said. _"I hope you guys don't die."_ He added.

"_Hey, just because you're banging the Class Prez doesn't mean you have to rub it in our faces." _whinedthe martial artist of Class Zero.

"_No, I am not banging her. Not yet at least." _Nine countered.

Before she can hear anything else, she chose another conversation to listen to and this time, it got her full attention.

"_Ace,"_ started the woman in the talk. She isn't quite sure of who it is but the voice had the mixture of caution, worry and little bit of caring. The listener knit her brows together.

"_Queen, what is it?"_ Ace asked her. "So, Ace and Queen huh?" She whispered to herself. A surge of emotions ran through her whole system: interest, confusion and most importantly, jealousy. "What?" A voice at the back of her head said.

"_I'm kind of worried about that mission."_

Ace sighed and said, _"I know it is dangerous to infiltrate a military base, a Milities base at that. But we have no choice. Besides, we have the element of surprise."_

"_Hmm, maybe you're right. Who could tip them off anyway?" _Queen agreed.

"_We just have to be prepared, well prepared."_

"_Yeah, I guess so."_ And the voices trailed off after that.

"They will be… infiltrating the base?" Her world spins at the thought as she hurriedly went out of the room for another appointment.

* * *

The dictator, Cid Aulstyne, was again pacing around his room anxiously. It was only a few days ago since the last call of his spy but he can't wait any longer!

"Just where on Oriense is she?" He said to himself. He was getting impatient by the minute.

Rubrum could be training the damned Class Zero and he is still blind as a bat as to what weapons they wield! If his adopted daughter, and spy, will not report, then he will call her himself!

Deciding it was time to make the call, he stopped pacing around, exited his cozy room and headed out to the military base.

Milities, a country that knew everything about battle plans and the art of war, had the biggest military base known to all of Oriense. Cold steel greets you in this place and it is quite a maze for those who are not familiar. It is a trap and one could easily be killed by patrolling guards should they find you, probably for doing nothing at all.

Several meters before reaching the enormous steel doors, the guards saluted as they saw the High Commander approaching. They then paved way, giving him entry inside. Since it was such a huge military base, inside, it was lined with an array of weapons. From guns to broadswords to lances and arrows, you name it. Milities Empire got it all, fully loaded too.

"Sir," spoke a heavily armored soldier as he saluted Cid. He saluted back and said, "I need to contact the spy." He said, well, it was more of an order.

"But sir, she will-" the high ranking officer exclaimed but was cut off.

"We can't wait that long. We need to know their plans now!" Cid barked out. The guard scrambled right away to find a phone to use for communicating with the spy. His commander was probably worried too for her safety. It was his adopted daughter he sent after all. She might not have his blood coursing down her veins, but their bond was so strong that it does not even matter at all or so he thought.

As Cid placed the receiver on his ear, he first heard a few beeps before the other line was picked up. A voice of a young woman came in: it was the spy.

"Sir? I'm sorry—"

"Have you got information?" he cut her off.

"Uh, y-yes…"

"What are their weapons?" Cid could sense her hesitation even if he was miles away. But why hesitate now?

"W-well…" the spy squeaked on the other line.

"Well?"

The woman cleared her throat and took a deep breath. "A-Ace w-wields a m-mace. C-Cater has d-daggers. C-Cinque c-carries d-double rapiers, K-King uses a k-katana. J-Jack shoots w-with double guns. M-Machina has a m-magical g-gun that needs no reloading. R-Rem uses a p-pack of c-cards. Trey uses a bow and arrow while Eight uses his knuckles for fighting. S-Seven uses a broadsword. S-Sice wields a scythe…" Then, Cid heard his daughter, and spy, gasp.

"What? What is it?" He asked impatiently.

"Uh, nothing sir," she replied.

"Continue on then."

His infiltrator took another deep breath and spoke on the other side yet again. "Q-Queen uses a spear and lastly, N-Nine has a whip. I'm afraid those are the different weapons Class Zero uses sir."

"Hm, nothing else? How about those recorders I told you to give to them? You… did that, didn't you?" Now, Cid was mighty afraid his daughter might not have done it. His chances of eavesdropping will have terribly gone in a puff of smoke.

"Um, yes sir. But I'm afraid I got nothing useful at the moment." Cid could very much sense her hesitation.

"Why are you hesitating?" His fear was getting stronger that he almost shivered and it took all of his willpower not to. Did she form tight bonds with this Class Zero? Who could ever make her hesitate now? Is she turning her coat, at this crucial moment?

"I, ah, am not hesitating, sir."

It was clear though that she was. "We will be, ah, attacking Rubrum in a few days. Make sure you stay clear. Understood?"

The spy gulped. "Y-yes sir," Then the call broke off.

* * *

As the spy was talking to her commander, Alex was running really fast around the halls of the Peristylium with the chocobo keychain in her hand. Finally, she came upon Kurasame's office and she started banging on the door.

"Professor! Professor, open up! Professor!" She yelled frantically as she banged on the door. Kurasame opened the door and looked at her with a questioning look on his face.

"Alexandra, what is it?" He asked her. Alex composed herself and showed him the keychain.

"Inspect this keychain and see if it sounds anything like a microphone _or_ a recorder." Alex said, catching her breath, as she held the chocobo keychain in front of Kurasame. The masked man took and held it to his ear. He was shocked for he heard it emitting a static sound.

"Where did you get this?"

"It's Ace's keychain. Based on what he told me, Deuce gave all of them a keychain, moogles for the girls and chocobos for the boys. Hell, he even sleeps with that under his pillow and takes that everywhere." Alex explained. Kurasame looked weirded out when Alex said that Ace sleeps with it.

"Get Queen here, take the others' key chains and bring them to me." Kurasame ordered and Alex nodded. She then ran out to look for Queen.

Alex looked at every possible place where Queen could be. She checked the chocobo fields, but Machina and Rem told her that she and Nine just left. Then, she checked the cafeteria, her room, the lacrosse fields, and the terrace. Hell, she even went up to the roof. But all of a sudden, Alex had this hunch on where Queen could be.

"God damn it! She could be in the library!" She thought to herself and hit her head on the wall. After shaking her head, she immediately headed for the library.

When Alex arrived in the library, she searched every corner of it. Yet, when Alex could not see Queen during her first search, she thought of going for the studying area when someone suddenly bumped into her, making the two of them fall to the tiled floor. Adjusting her eyesight, Alex sat up to see Queen shaking the whole thing off.

"Ey, Queen." Alex greeted her. The said girl looked at Alex with her purple eyes and a raised eyebrow in question of Ace's cousin's actions. And that's when the interrogation began.

"Alex, why were you running too fast? Is there an emergency? Is someone injured? Does anybody—"but before she could even complete that sentence, Alex pulled her to her feet and covered her mouth.

"Okay, first off, do not ask me too many questions at the same time, because I don't know how to answer them at the same time and second, Professor Kurasame and I need you, _now_."

When Queen nodded in understanding at the urgency of the situation, the older girl removed her hand from her mouth. Then, they rushed back to Kurasame's office.

"You called for me, Professor?" Queen asked in the most polite way.

"Yes, Queen, I did. I called you here because Alexandra made a discovery." Kurasame explained. Queen looked skeptically at Kurasame but nevertheless asked him what it is.

"What discovery, sir?" Queen asked while her eyes squinting and nose scrunching with curiosity. Kurasame handed her the chocobo key chain as she looked at it with a questioning look on her face.

"It's a chocobo keychain." Queen stated in a matter-of-factly tone. Alex rolled her eyes at her statement.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious, but do you want to hold it up to your ear or something?" Alex snapped at her. Queen did so and she heard the same static sound coming from the keychain.

"What is that?" She asked, obviously surprised.

"Apparently there's a recorder in that thing." Alex replied. "That's Ace's keychain. Based on what he told me, Deuce gave the boys similar chocobo key chains and similar moogle key chains to the girls. Is that right?"

"Yeah, she did give all of us key chains. Let me check mine." Queen said. She reached deep into her coat's inner pocket and pulled out a moogle keychain. Alex took it and held it up to her ear. It was emitting the same static sound as the other keychain.

"It's the same as Ace's keychain. Could it be that the others' keychain are the same as these two?" Alex asked Kurasame. Kurasame thought deeply and sighed.

"Get the others' key chains and bring them here." He ordered.

"There's one more thing," said Alex and Kurasame and Queen looked at her with wonder. "Don't say a word about this to Ace."

"Why not? Ace is the leader of Operation Apostle. He deserves to know about this." The Prez reminded her.

"I know that he deserves to know. But he has feelings for Deuce and if he finds out that she might have eaves dropping our conversations and who knows what else she is doing, it'll break his heart or cloud his judgment. I will tell him about it _eventually_, but now's not the right time." Alex explained.

"You don't… you don't think of her as a spy right?" Queen's voice quivered as she asked. Alexandra sighed.

"Sadly, I think she is."

"But there's no way—"

"Professor, where is Deuce exactly from?"

"Just like what her paper works say, Concordia."

"I think… I think there's more to that. Can you find out more?"

Kurasame nodded and Queen was left with no choice but to agree.

"Let's go."

Deuce walked into the lacrosse fields where she saw Ace waiting for her in the middle of the fields. She ran towards him and since his back is turned away from her, she jumped on his back and covered his eyes with her dainty hands.

"Guess who?" She whispered in his ear. Ace shook his head knowing that she's already behind him.

"Deuce," he replied.

"Aww," she whined and got off him. He turned around and faced her with a smile on his face.

"So, what did you want to tell me?" Deuce asked as he took her hands and held them tightly.

Hidden, Alex and Queen were watching the scene. The other members were with them as well but Alex gave them strict instructions to leave everything to her.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Queen asked worriedly. Alex was her friend and so was Deuce. Yet, even if she wanted to let Deuce go, she just can't.

"I am." Alex said as she took her tranquilizer gun. She walked into the fields as the others observed it all. Class Zero was obviously mad at Deuce; they simply cannot believe that she was a spying on them through the key chains but unfortunately, she was.

Alex walked towards the couple, inching closer and closer. Ace was about to tell Deuce what he feels when he saw Alex creeping.

"Alex, what are you—"but before Ace could finish the sentence, Alex shot Deuce three times with a tranquilizer on her back. Deuce fell to the ground unconscious almost immediately and the other members of Class Zero quickly came to take her away for interrogation. Furious, Ace lunged at Alex but Alex simply seized him by his shoulders.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" He asked her with total hate. She pushed him back and pinned him to the ground. Ace tried to break out of her hold but she pinning him too hard.

"I'M DOING THIS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!" She replied and got off him and stood up. Ace stood up as well and looked at her with tears in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Ace, but I'm doing this to protect you." Alex said and ran back inside with the other members of Class Zero. With tears in his eyes, Ace ran a hand to his hair and he approached the equipment rack.

"SHIT!" He yelled and kicked the equipment rack, making the lacrosse sticks and balls fall to the ground He sat on the ground as tears flowed out of his eyes.

* * *

**Secret (or not-so-secret?) A/N: Deuce called Cid first before meeting Ace and getting knocked unconscious.**


End file.
